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Op/Ed
Superfund Is Out of Sync with Today’s Realities
By Reed Rubinstein
A quarter-century ago, back when polyester shirts remained a quasi-legitimate
fashion option, Jimmy Carter was president, and Chrysler K-cars were considered
hot technology, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,
and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund.
While polyester, Carter and the K-car have all, more or less, faded away, Superfund
essentially remains now what it was then — a hastily conceived, politically
motivated and coarsely implemented attempt to respond to the social, health
and economic problems posed by environmental contamination.
Superfund might have made sense given the political conditions and scientific
“state-of-the-art” in 1979 or 1980. Over the past fifteen years,
however, a mountain of evidence has accumulated suggesting Superfund, in its
current form, no longer works.