Is the Cleaning of Superfund Sites Causing More Harm than Good?

After decades, and centuries in some places, of acting as a toxic dumping ground, America's rivers and riverfronts have been the targets of cleanup efforts by the federal government's Superfund program. But as the EPA tackles some of the most "complex cleanups ever attempted," located in "large stretches of urban waterways where the pollution is out of sight," doubts remain about the best method to handle such immense efforts, reports Anthony DePalma.

DePalma's article chronicles accounts of well-intentioned cleanup efforts gone wrong. And although many do, in fact, improve the safety of targeted sites, they can stir up waste in the process, threatening the surrounding ecosystem. Still, the federal government is pushing ahead with the Superfund program, utilizing new cleanup technologies and computer modeling.