Let the Buyer Beware
by Paul Tarricone, Assistant Editor;Serial Information: Civil Engineering—ASCE, 1990, Vol. 60, Issue 8, Pg. 56-59
Document Type: Feature article
Abstract:
As recently as the 1970s, state highway agencies blindly purchased land for projects without much concern for hazardous waste. But that changed in 1980 with Superfund legislation, specifically the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), which states that both the current and previous owner may be liable for cleanup, regardless of who is responsible for the contamination. In short, if you own it, you clean it. Unsuspecting DOTs have encountered the whole gamut of contaminants along highway routes, including leaking underground storage tanks, landfills, dumps sites and sludge pits and ground water. The discovery of hazardous wastes can have a domino effect on the entire highway project. Schedules may have to be juggled; construction may be delayed or stopped in progress; and highway agencies may find themselves wallowing in a quagmire of litigation. But states are now screening properties more closely, helped in part by a new FHWA course. Before purchase, a state should identify contaminated land parcels, and completely avoid them. If that's impossible, it should redesign the project to minimize involvement with the contamination, while securing the cleanup costs from the previous owner.
Subject Headings: Project management | Highways and roads | Underground storage | Traffic safety | Storage tanks | Soil pollution | Pollution
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