Lawyers Still Cleaning up Over Superfund Sites, Essay Example

The Superfund Law, or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was passed by U.S. Congress on December 11, 1980 which created a tax on petroleum and chemical industries and enabled federal officials to respond to any and all threats or occurrences of hazardous substances released that threatened public safety. The law has been in action for the past four decades, yet Hurley (2011) discusses how lawyers are still dealing with litigation related to it. Although many legal officials believes that cases regarding Superfund would have diminished by now, over one hundred sites remain that require remedial work. Polluted property translates into continued litigation for repeated violations against environmental protections enacted with Superfund. Many environmental lawyers have decried Superfund for tying up their very profession because of the legal wrangling that it catalyzed between private parties and the government over cleanup costs when contamination is caused by certain businesses and companies. Ambiguity in Superfund has exacerbated the potential for persistent litigation, especially with regards to natural resources damages,whch are quite expensive to litigate. As such, the author argues that the ambiguity of the Superfund law has created a vacuum in which litigation will never cease, thereby causing huge problems for environmental lawyers and businesses today. This article is objective in nature and does not argue for or against Superfund. However, it points to the excesses that Superfund allows for from the litigation perspective, thereby articulating an argument about the inefficacy of Superfund despite its noble intentions. The increased potential for litigation brings up questions about the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court in matters relating to environmental violations, especially because groups continue to focus on mines and rivers where pollution is increasingly detected in high concentrations. Moreover, the Obama administration continues to file claims in an aggressive manner, thereby underscoring the economic detriment Superfund continues to wrack the American people and businesses with.

References

Hurley, L. (2011). Lawyers still cleaning up over Superfund sites. The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2015 from http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/01/03/03greenwire-lawyers-still-cleaning-up-over-superfund-sites-92748.html?pagewanted=all