Air Date: July 26, 1991

SEGMENTS

Superfund Super Slow? / George Homsy

Living on Earth's George Homsy reports on a $59 million dollar agreement to pay for cleanup of one of the country's first Superfund toxic waste sites. The EPA says the agreement between the agency and five companies is a major accomplishment, but critics say the settlement shows just how sluggish the Superfund process can be. Wells on the site, in Woburn, Massachusetts, were closed in 1979 and the site was put on the Superfund cleanup list in 1983. (03:54)

Lots of Lawyers, Few Cleanups

Steve talks with EPA Director of Program Enforcement Bruce Diamond and Jan Edelstein, of the industrial insurance company American International Group about proposed changes in Superfund cleanup liability. Edelstein says the "Polluter Pays" principle leads to far more lawsuits than clean ups. Diamond contends that the insurance industry's alternative would bring even more litigation. (05:18)

Yimby? / Adam Hochberg

Adam Hochberg of member station WUNC reports on the brouhaha over a plan to site a toxic waste incinerator in a rural North Carolina town. The town fathers of Woodland, North Carolina have offered to host the incinerator, possibly ending a seven-year search by the state to site such a facility. But some say the incinerator could be the worst thing that ever happened to the town. (06:36)

Ceding the Backyard

Steve visits two Louisiana towns where residents have decided they'd rather leave than live next to petrochemical plants. Fleeing what they fear are toxic emissions from the plants, the mostly-black residents have abandoned one town and may soon leave the other deserted as well. (05:56)

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Superfund Super Slow?

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Lots of Lawyers, Few Cleanups

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Yimby?

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Ceding the Backyard

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