The Bush administration is encouraging the sale of PCB-contaminated sites

[bigtree]

reversing a 25-year-old policy barring any such sales before the land is cleaned.

The EPA said last month it planned to end the ban on the sale of real estate contaminated with PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, which the EPA classifies as a probable carcinogen. The rule went into effect in 1978.

The decision is designed to spur the sale of contaminated industrial sites that have lain dormant for years. The push to develop so-called brownfields, including PCB sites, has gained momentum recently as mayors and other local officials have sought to locate new business in aging city and town centers.

EPA said the move is a reinterpretation of existing law to allow PCB sites to change hands before cleanup while still enforcing PCBs regulations. Previously, the owner of a PCB site had to clean it before any sale.

Under terms of the reinterpretation, PCBs still are banned, and the land must be cleaned before it can be developed for industrial or other usage. However there is no provision for monitoring the site clean-up after the transfer and it's not clear just what the government's responsibility will be at that point..

http://www.enn.com/news/2003-09-03/s_7988.asp


This is the Bush administration's attempt to let their corporate buddies out from under the requirements of the Superfund Act which would hold the industry financially responsible for the clean-up.
It goes along with all of the other 'voluntary' standards promoted by conservatives to replace enforcable regulations that they say hurts industry.

[pansypoo53219]

1. i am all for recycling old land instead

of using fresh untainted land. But where is the benefit to the people if there is no clean up.
more bullshit that Nadar didn't tell us to expect.

absolutely no difference.