Promoting Development, But At What Cost?

The EPA will relax the ban on the sale of land polluted with PCBs.

1 minute read

September 4, 2003, 8:00 AM PDT

By Connie Chung


"The Bush administration has ended a 25-year-old ban on the sale of land polluted with PCBs. The ban was intended to prevent hundreds of polluted sites from being redeveloped in ways that spread the toxin or raise public health risks. The Environmental Protection Agency decided the ban was 'an unnecessary barrier to redevelopment (and) may actually delay the clean-up of contaminated properties'....EPA staffers have raised concerns that the change could make it hard to track the sale of PCB sites and ensure that buyers don't spread contamination by developing property before it's cleaned up....The decision also is likely to upset environmentalists and their congressional allies who contend that the administration is easing environmental rules to promote development."

Thanks to Connie Chung

Monday, September 1, 2003 in USA Today

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