Discussion Prompt: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
Based on what you have learned about CERCLA from Chapter 9 (and from the "Red Flags for Managers" section at the end of Chapter 9), answer the following questions in your initial post:
1. How does CERCLA relate to the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act?
2. What are the potential liabilities for an owner or operator of property deemed to have "hazardous wastes," even if the property was obtained from an owner or operator who was responsible for the waste? Is that fair in your opinion? Why or why not?
3. How else would the cost of a clean-up occur if just the transgressing owner were held liable and was unable to pay the costs of recovery? Could a parent corporation always shield itself from CERCLA liability by placing all the risk of environmental contamination under a subsidiary corporation? Who else should bear the costs of recovery then - the taxpayers?
4. Could Christians discover redemption (in how we are supposed to steward creation) behind the purposes of this legislation? Why or why not?