Superfund Is Unscathed So Far—What Does That Imply?

Since January, the new national administration has engaged in a large number of actions addressing scores or hundreds of regulations and programs, including environmental and energy programs. However, environmental lawyers have surely noticed that the federal Superfund program under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) seems to have escaped direct attention.

The decision to leave Superfund mostly alone surely has many motivations. However, do note that the Superfund program—more so than almost any other environmental regulatory program—fits a zero-sum conceptual model. In a zero-sum world, for someone to win, someone else has to lose. Most environmental regulation proceeds from an understanding that governmental or collective action to restrain, to encourage, or to remedy some behavior will yield benefits generally, including for the regulated entity. That is not so clear for the environmental site contamination