MICHIGAN A.G. ON 120 H 3

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>

MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL WANTS TO PRESERVE CERCLA 120 (h) (3)
Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley has written a letter opposing 
the proposed "Dirty Transfer" change in CERCLA 120 (h) (3). This 
excerpt points out some of the key, practical issues raised by the 
proposed legislation:
"In many instances, the initial transferee of federal facilities may be 
a state or local government which accepts title in order to convey to a 
private party for economic development. Forcing the state or local 
agency to make a choice between accepting the land and the liability of 
the United States, or losing the chance for economic redevelopment of 
the site by declining to accept such liability, is unfair and contrary 
to the intent of section 120 (h) (3). Yet this is precisely the choice 
that will be presented in many instances, and I fear that the acute 
need for redevelopment and the ability to pass the liability on to the 
private developer will force state and local agencies to absolve the 
United States of liability for the harm it has caused, even though the 
private redeveloper's promise to accept the liability of the United 
States will be unfairly passed to state and local governments.
"Allowing federal agencies to transfer their environmental liability to 
others in the name of economic development will increase the number of 
orphan sites of contamination when the transferee is either unwilling, 
or more likely unable, to fulfill the 'assurance' it gave to remediate 
the federal facility. Facilitating civilian redevelopment of federal 
facilities is a worthwhile endeavor, but not at the expense of the 
environment."
 
Lenny Siegel