Kiichiro Hatakeyama

Assistant Manager, Marketing Promotion Dept. (Commercial), The Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.
(1-2-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-50 Japan)

Abstract

The Superfund Law in the US, considered the strictest law in the world regarding clean-up regulations for pollution from hazardous materials (mainly soil pollution), was enacted in 1980, and through revisions in 1986 and a subsequent reauthorization, has been extended so that the fund will be available for use through the end of September, 1994. Because the main target of the law is to clean up sites polluted in the past, there have been many lawsuits concerning the apportioning of clean-up liability, and clean-up related costs have risen rapidly. Also, because the clean-up processes are often complex, and clean-up standards are ambiguous, despite the fact that large amounts of money have been spent there have been very few successful clean-ups completed. Considering this situation, the Clinton administration submitted its Superfund reauthorizatcon proposal to Congress in February 1994. This article briefly explains the framework of Superfund, and examines, based on the clean-up record, the reasons that efficiency has not improved. It also introduces the basic outline of the reauthorization bill proposed by the administration.

Key words: superfund, clean-up record, clean-up cost, administration reauthorization proposal Acknowledgement:The author would like to thank David D. Buente, partner, and Margaret Spring of the U.S. law firm Sidley and Austin for their help in providing the most up-to-date information on this subject.