Companies seek more EPA leeway

Article Abstract:

Corporations are lobbying for national laws giving them privileges for evidence of environmental wrongdoing uncovered in in-house audits. State laws accomplishing the same thing are becoming so numerous that the EPA fears its enforcement ability will be impaired. The agency's policy allowing for reduced penalties when a corporation discovers an environmental violation, informs the EPA and corrects the problem within 60 days went into effect on Jan 24, 1996. Groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund fear losing the leverage provided by bad corporate environmental records in labor disputes.

Environmental auditing, Industrial wastes

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Interest in brownfields abounds despite problems; a hot market exists for these polluted sites, although the federal program to spur development is largely untested

Article Abstract:

Real estate developers and investors seem eager to purchase the hazardous waste sites called brownfields. Many of the sites are in good locations, with access to highway or waterfront and the disadvantage only of pollution. The fact that government liability waivers do not shield property owners from suits by adjoining landowners does not seem to impair the general health of the market. The government's acceptance that polluted industrial areas do not have to be as clean as residential areas has helped the market the most.

United States. Environmental Protection Agency, Hazardous waste sites

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Both sides oppose rule that limits liability of lenders

Article Abstract:

Environmentalists and manufacturers are both up in arms because of a federal rule which would, with a few exceptions, void Superfund lender liability for hazardous waste cleanup on their borrowers' property. This regulation was announced on Apr 24, 1992. Environmentalists fear bankers will no longer be motivated to study the environmental consequences of their real estate loans. Manufacturers fear they will have to bear the entire financial burden of hazardous waste cleanup.

Lender liability

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