Robert Hersh

Grounding hazardous waste cleanups: a promising remedy?

Abstract The linking of cleanups at contaminated sites in the US to the sites’ expected land uses may offer a more rational and cheaper cleanup process, economic development in the local communities that host such sites, and more community control of cleanups. Interviews with national-level stakeholders, information from a large database of contaminated sites, and a detailed case study suggest these presumed benefits are problematic. Misunderstandings about the current role of land use in cleanup, the likelihood of economic development at contaminated sites, the viability of institutional controls, the willingness of communities to accept partial cleanups, and public involvement warrant more attention.

Gauging the Vulnerability of Local Water Systems to Extreme Events

Water utilities that rely on surface water may be vulnerable to future droughts and floods, a vulnerability that may be magnified by climate perturbations as well as shorter-term and, in some cases, ongoing changes in the political and regulatory environment in which utilities operate. Unfortunately, day-to-day responsibilities currently occupy most utility operators, leaving little time to plan for inherently uncertain effects. The record of actual responses to past droughts and floods can be illuminating, however, particularly when placed in the context of plausible hydrologic disruption and pressures such as population growth, floodplain development and new regulatory demands. This paper draws on interviews with water utility operators in the northwestern USA to highlight opportunities and constraints that water utilities may face vis-à-vis such disruptions. Key considerations affecting vulnerabilities include water rights, institutional barriers to efficient utility operations, hazard management policy and the fiscal status of utilities.

Land Use, Risk, and Superfund Cleanups At the Nexus of Policy and Practice

In the Superfund reauthorization debate, many argue that protective cleanups can be achieved more efficiently by utilizing broader risk-based approaches that eliminate the pathways by which individuals are exposed to unacceptable levels of contamination. These approaches rest centrally on assumptions made about the future land use at a site. Assumptions help risk assessors and regulators determine who may be at risk at a site, how much risk these individuals may bear, and how much contamination should be removed, treated, or contained to ensure protective cleanups. This article first describes how future land use assumptions are currently incorporated into Superfund cleanup decisions, a subject of considerable confusion. It then examines the repercussions of this policy in relation to the transparency of cleanup decisions, the participation of various stakeholder groups, and the longterm management of contamination left on site via institutional controls.