bookspan - finding the cause of urban grime

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Potentially Responsible Party Searches: Finding the Cause of Urban GrimeAuthor(s): Shelley BookspanSource: The Public Historian, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring, 1991), pp. 25-34Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3378420

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P u b l i c Historians n d t hnvironment

Potentially Responsible P a r t ySearches i n d i n g t h e a u s e o

U r b a n G r i m e

SHELLEY OOKSPAN

PROFESS10NALONSULTINGISTORIANSttuned o changingegislativeandregulatory andatesanapply heirhistoricalkills o the process fproblem-solving.y adaptingheseskills o meetmarket emands,uchhistoriansot onlyoffera service o current lients,buttheyalsohelptocreatenew rolesfor theirprofession. ince 1980, or example, ederalenvironmentalaw has held a varietyof potentiallyesponsible arties(PRPs)iablefor the clean-up f toxicwastesites. A determinationfliabilityprecedes he clean-upprocess.As a resultof this legislation,historicalvidence,whether historian r someotherprofessionalom-pilesand nterpretst, hascome o playan importantole n the use andsaleof propertiesuspected f toxicwastecontamination,nd s, there-fore, quicklybecomingntegratednto the repertoire f environmentalconsulting.Historiansowhave he chance o become ccepted s experts n pastenvironmentalracticesn a fieldwhere echnicalpecialists ave radi-tionally een dominant. o some extent, his is already appening.nSHELLEY OOKSPAN,H.D., is president f PHREnvironmental onsultants,nc., a multi-disciplinary roup of environmentaliabilityspecialists,based in California.PHR'sstaffincludes oil scientists,geologists,andchemical ngineerswhoprovide echnical upport ora teamof professional istorians.Dr. Bookspans a frequent ecturer n the topicof environ-mental liability. Recently, for example, she served on the facultyof an environmentalliability ourse or practicing ttorneys, ponsored y the University f SouthernCalifornia'sLawCenter.Dr. Bookspans a contributingditor o theReal Estate LawJourmlal,orwhichshe writesa quarterly olumn.She has served n various apacities n the staffofThe PublicHistorian since 1978.

25ThePublicHistorian,Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring1991)t)1991by the Regentsof the University f California


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26 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIANmakingntroductionsecentlyo a group fofficialsrom he CaliforniaDepartmentf HealthServices, n attorneyepresentingresponsibleparty tacontaminateditereferredo thehistorianresent s one fourengineers nthe case. Asdiscordants theintroductioneemed o thehistorian,twasobvioushat heattorneyonsideredhehistorian'sxper-tise n thetechniquesfempiricismnalogouso anengineer'sxpertisein thefilnctionsf the physical orld.Thehistorian asat themeeting o presentnformationbout he sitethatproved s mportanto theremedialXorts sthechemicalngineer'sdeterminationf total eadcontent f thesoil. Usinga seriesof primarysource ocuments,hehistorianttemptedopersuadehedepartmentonamean additional artyas a PRP n the case. Patentstrademarks,Sanborn ireInsuranceompany aps,ncorporationapers, ndothermaterialsonvincedepartmentfBcialshata manufacturerf industrialcleaningompoundsadcontributedo thecontaminationuringtspre-viousoccupationf the site.Departmentfficials raisedhe historian'swork nd,byagreeingobring headditionalartynto hecase,demon-strated respect orhistoricalrgument. ot incidentally,he depart-ment'sactionalso addedanother ourceof revenue o help fundthemillion-dollarlean-up ffort.The StateDepartmentf HealthServices cted n accordance ithstandardsetatthefederalevel.Underhe ederalComprehensivenvi-ronmental esponse,Compensation,ndLiability ct(CERCLA)ndsubsequentourtdecisions,heresponsibilityor heclean-upfcontami-nated itesmaybe strict,oint,andseveral mong variety f parties,starting ith he current roperty wner.Thismeans hat ingly rpro-portionately,ndividualsrcolporate ntitieswhohavegeneratedoxicwasteon a site, taken oxicwaste o a site,arrangedorthedisposal ftoxicwaste, rwhoowned r eased propertyhile notherarty epos-itedtoxicwaste heremayhave o bearwhat anbetremendousosts o

1. Probably he first historian o qualifyas a courtroom xpert for the purposeofestablishing ollution ourceswasJoel A. Tarr,professor t Carnegie-Mellon niversity,who studiedanddevelopeda pollutionhistory fWoburn,Massachusetts,oran importantcasewhichnformedhe 1986amendmentso the federalSuperfundaw.Tarr aspublishednumerous rticleson the historyofhazardous astedisposal.Among hemare HistoricalPerspective n HazardousWastes n the UnitedStates, Waste Managementb Research 3(1985),95-102 and The Searchfor the UltimateSink: UrbanAir, Land, and WaterPollutionnHistorical erspective, ecordsofhe Columbia Histor1calSocietyofWashing-ton, D.C. 51 (Charlottesville: niversityof Virginia,1984). Otherhistorianswho havecontributedo the field includeMartinV. Melosi,Garbage in the Cities (CollegeStation:TexasA & M UniversityPress, 1981);SamuelP. Hays,Beauty, Health, and Permanence:EnvironmentalPolitics in the United States, 1955-1985 (Cambridge:ambridge niversityPress, 1987);andDonaldWorster,ed., The Ends of the Earth: Perspectives on ModernEnvironmentalHistory (NewYork:Cambridge niversity ress,1988).Theauthor s grate-ful to JohnC. Shideler or sharing copyof his talk, Historical vidence:The SuperfundManager's iddenAlly, presentedNovember , 1989 o the 26thAnnualMeeting,PacificNorthwestnternationalection,AirandWasteManagement ssociation.


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PRP SEARCHES * 27restore he siteto health.2 nderSection 07of CERCLA,uch ontribu-torsarecalledpotentiallyesponsiblearties.Even f their uspect ctiv-ity wasunwitting,well-intended,nd egally anctionedt the time,andeven f it occurred ecades go, he PRPswithremainingssets re iablefor he clean-up.Themainpurpose f the law,alsoknown s Superfund,s to accomplishsite remediation;encethe courtsandenforcementgencies avegreatflexibilityn assigningiability.3 he retroactivityf the law is not in-tendedto be punitive.Rather,by allowing ublicagencies r privatepartieswho underwriteite clean-up ctions o recover heircosts romthosewho actually enerated r deposited he wastes,CERCLA lacestheultimate inancial urdenupon hoseresponsibleor the danger. 4Because he cost of clean-up anexceed he valueof the site andcanbringan individual r sole corporatentity o bankruptcy,t oftenbestservesbothpublicandprivatenterestso allocateiability mong num-berofpaying arties atherhanapply trict iabilityo thecurrent wner.In determininguchenvironmentaliability uestions,he historiananoftentell as muchas the chemistor the geologist r the hydrographerabout he contaminationf the site.Thehistorian'svidences asconvinc-ing as laboratorynalytical ataor subsurfaceroundwaterowcharts.Historiansnvolved n environmentalnvestigations ayassist n theliabilityportionof a contaminationase in two principalways. First,through he use of historicaland-use, ngineering, ndpublicagencyrecords, istoriansmay dentify ccupants f the subject ite overtimewho are likelyto have causedsome or all of the residual roblem.Acorollary istoricalnvestigationnvolves racing ssets o theircurrentholder(s). econd,having dentifiedPRPs n the case, historiansmaycontributeo CERCLA ection 22negotiationsegardinghe actual or-tion of responsibilityllocatedo each PRP.If litigations required odeterminehisallocation,istorians aybe calledupon o testifyn court.Successfulllocationesearchmaydepend n a mosaic f sourcematerialmadeaccessiblehrough traditionalistorical arrative.The distinction etween he two typesof investigationnvolves othtiming nddepth.More han ikely, he PRP earchwilloccur elatively

2. ComprehensiveEnvironmentalResponse,Compensation, nd LiabilityAct (here-aP^er, ERCLA), 2 United StatesCode, Sections9601-9675. Numerous awjournalarti-cles discuss he legislativehistoryandthe implications f CERCLAprior o andas amendedby the SuperfundAmendments nd Reauthorizationctof 1986).See, forexample,ThomasC.L. Roberts, Allocation f LiabilityUnder CERCLA:A 'Carrotand Stick' Formula,EGOIOgYaw Quarterly 14, 601-38; Steven Ferry, TheToxic Time Bomb: MunicipalLiability or the Cleanupof HazardousWaste, The George Washington Law Review 57(2),197-278; andOwenT. Smith, TheExpansive copeof LiablePartiesUnderCERCLA, t.John Law Review 63(4), 821-58.3. See, for example, Gene A. Lucero, EPA'sRole in and Perspectiveon PropertyTransfer nd FinancingLiabilities, 8Environmental Law Reporter 10366 1988).4. City of Philadelphia v. Stepan Chemical Co., 544 F. Supp. 1135, 1142-3 (E.D. Pa.1982).


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28 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIANsoonafterdiscovery f thecontamination.hethernagencys takingthe lead on the project,or whether privatepartyhasdiscoveredproblem,tquickly ecomes ecessaryofindasource ffundingor hevariousoilsandgroundwatertudies hatmustprecede nyremedialactivity.n arecentnternalmemorandum,. . . StreamliningheSettle-mentDecision rocess, heEPA alled hePRP earch the irst tep nthe settlement rocessand. . . one of the mostcriticalo success. 5AlthoughRPnvestigatorsollect nydatawhichultimatelynformshesettlement rocessXheirmission n thisearlystage s simply o findpartieswhomayhavecontributedvenateaspoonfulfchemical astestothesubject ite.TheEPArarely ddsPRPs othelistafterheinitialsearch, utthePRPsmaydosothemselvesnseparateegalactions.FollowinghePRP earch, heagencymustassess heextentofeachparty contributiono thecontamination.f theEPA is overseeinghecase, heagencywillserve heidentified RPswitha CERCLASection104(e) oticeetter,requestingromheir ilesdata oncerninghemicalusage ndwaste isposalractices. sing hisnformation,heEPAassignsspecificercentagesf iability.6fPRPsandemonstrateminimalartici-pationn theoverallontamination,heybecome eminimis ontributorsand ettlewith heEPAoralumpum.TheEPAhenattemptsoenterconsentecree ith heremainingRPs, ssigningachaportion ftheoverall lean-uposts,whichmayaccrue vera period fyears.Duringthesenegotiations,heEPA onsidershevolume fwastematerialsachPRP ontributedver ime othesite, henaturefthewastematerialshePRP ontributed,nd hepersuasivenessftheevidenceinkinghePRPtothematerialtthesite. ThehistoryfthePRP'selationshipothesite,thus, scriticalodeterminingjustallocation.

PRPSearchesApotentiallyesponsibleartys a specificndividualrcorporation,suchasthegenerator'sandlord,hewastehauler, rthewastedisposalsiteoperator, hogeneratedhetoxicwasteorwhoprofitedrom he5. United StatesEnvironmentalProtectionAgencymemorandum,OSWERno. 9835.4,subject:InterimGuidance:Streamliningthe CERCLASettlement Decision Process, Febru-ary 12, 1987.6. CERCLA, Section 122(g) (4).7. Kenneth P. Cohen, Allocationof SuperfundCleanupCosts AmongPotentiallyRe-sponsible Parties: The Role of BindingArbitration, 18 EnvironmentalLaw Reporter 10158(1988).8. See Dale A. Stirling, Site Histories in Environmental Site Assessments: A NewOpportunity for Public Historians, The PublicHistorisn 12 (Spring1990),45-52 and Shel-ley Bookspan, History Requited: Historians and Toxic Waste, in David S. Mock, ed.,History and Public Policy (Krieger Press, 1990). One of the most comprehensivereferenceguides to the historicalcomponent of environmental site assessmentsis Craig E. ColtonandDiane Mulville-Friel, Guidelinesand Methodsfor ConductingPropertyTransferSiteHisto-ries (Springfield,Illinois:Illinois Department of Energy and NaturalResources, 1990).


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PRP SEARCHES * 29waste.A PRPsearch s an effort o identify hese ndividualsnd ocatetheircurrentwhereabouts. hiskindof searchs distinct roma Phase1Environmentalite Assessment, hichusually rovides chronologyfuseson a subjectpropertyn advance f title transfer.9hePRP earch,whichonly occursaftera soil or groundwaternvestigationhows hepropertyo be contaminated,s farmoredetailed. n t, thePRP nvestiga-tor develops nformationboutspecific ndividualsssociated ith theproperty,he volumeandtype of chemicalshey used, andtheirwastedisposal ractices.Oncea PRPsearchbegins, he historian'sask s notonly o explain he origin f the problem, utto findout whodunit.The best PRPsearch trategiesnterrelate iththe technicaltudies.Before nitiating ny site history, he investigatormust learnwhat sknown bout he contaminationroblem t the siteandnextundertakeninvestigationntothe economic istory f the contaminant.erhaps,orexample, he principal ontaminants an organic olventknownaspercholorethylenePCE).A searchorpercholorethylenesa keyword ntradebibliographies,uch as Engineering ndexor the lndustrialArtsIndex,reveals hat he firstarticle bout he chemical ppearedn tradeliteraturen 1929.1 econdaryhemical eferenceources uchasIndus-trial Chemicalsdate he economic se of PCE o about 933.11othkindsof sources onfirmhatsince he mid-1930she overwhelming arketorPCEhasbeen the drycleaning nd aunderingndustry, here he non-volatile olventreplaced he less effective nd moredangerousarbontetrachloride.he iteraturelso hows hat econdaryCEmarkets aveincludedhe electroplatingndrubbermanufacturingndustries,ut hatallof the secondary arketsombined avegenerallyonstitutednly20percent f total ales.Thedesign or he PRP earchwill, accordingly,eek o uncover ccu-pantsof the site sinceabout1930who haduse forthis kindof solvent,particularlynydrycleaning r aunderingperations.n some ases,citydirectories, rticles f incorporation,ndtitle documents ill satisfacto-rily name he ownersor operators f a suspectoperation. inding hecurrent ddress f a proprietorrom he distantpast mayprovemoredifficult. axassessor ollsor vital tatistic ecordsmaybe helpful. f sucha searchuncovers he PRP'sobituary r deathcertificate,hen an un-daunted esearchermayconsider hecking robate ecords or inheri-tance nformation.Justas the nature f the contaminationrovides irectiono the PRPsearch, he historical ocumentationnearthedanadvise he scientificstudies.Usually, ollowing iscovery f contaminationn the subject ite

9. Engineering Index (New York: Engineering Index, Inc., 1920-1940); Industrlal ArtsIndex (New York: H.W. Wilson Company, Inc., 1920-1940).10. Frederick A. Lowenheim and Marguerite K. Moran, Faith, Keyes and Clark's Indus-trzal Chemtcals (New York:John Wiley and Sons, 1975 edition).11. CERCLA, Title II. (Hazardous Substance Response Revenue Act of 1980, Pub. LNo. 96-510, Sections 201-232, 94 Stat. 2767, 2796-804 [1980]).


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30 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIANandconcurrentith hePRP earch, teamof soilscientists,eologists,chemists,or otherswill conducta complete ubsurfacenvestigationknownsasitecharacterizationtudy. n t, thescientistsrenvironmen-talengineerstudyheporosityfthesoil, hegradientf thesubsurfacestrata,hedepthogroundwater,tc., inorderodetermineheextent fthecontaminationnd he ikelihoodhattwillenter hewaterupply rthefoodchain.These itecharacterizationsnclude oth ystematicam-plingof theentire iteand ocalizedamplingfthemostcontaminatedareas.ThehistoricalatadiscovereduringhePRP earchanassistntargetingheareas osamplend ndetermininghichaboratoryests orun.In one case,forexample, commercialuildingayatopa formergasolineervice tationite.Soilengineersonductingoutine lkalinitytestsforexpansionf the retail acilitydiscovereddoriferousocketsunderhesurface. hepropertywners ired nvironmentalngineersoconductitecharacterizationtudies ndhistoricalonsultantsoconductaPRP earch.Duringhecourse fthePRP earch,hehistoriansoundscaledplans orthe long-demolishedervice tation.Theseplansndi-catedhelocationsnsiteoffourundergroundasolinetorageanks ndonewasteoil tank.In combinationithcitystreet-wideningecords,thesedrawingsllowedhehistoriansomap helocationsfthese anksinrelationo thecurrenttructures.nturn, hatmap howed heengi-neerswhere osample nthesite norder ofind hehighestoncentra-tionofcontamination.neofthetank ites aydirectlynderheexistingstructure. amplinghatarearequired n unusualechnique f angleboring, uttheyieldprovedworthwhile.heconcentrationsn thesam-plesoftotalpetroleumydrocarbonsTPH) nd hecarcinogenicegrada-tionproducts fgasoline nown sbenzene,oluene,andxyleneBIX)demonstratedhat hetankwas hesource ftheproblem.Furtheresearchnto hesite'shistorydentifiedhecompanyhathadinstalledheculpableank.Because successionfcompaniesadoper-atedthe station fter he installationndbecause ertain rovisionsnCERCLAxemptpetroleum roductsrom he law'sbroad weepofliability,heattorneynthecaseencouragedheinvestigationeam opinpointxactlywhich ftheoperatorsadused hetank ftertbegan oleak.2To ittleavail nd onoconclusion,owever,hehistoriansoughttank epair ecords,inancialudits f thevarioustationperators,ndinterviews ith ormertation mployees. omewhatnfrustration,hehistoriansextconsultedhe literaturef thegasolinendustryortherelevantimeperiod, opingouncover hetherherewerecertainaso-lineadditivespecifico a time or a manufacturerorwhich he caseengineersmight ample.n fact,annualeports avebeenpublishedor

12. For an example, see United States Department of Interior,Bureauof Mines, MotorGasolines, Winter 1968-69, Petroleum ProductsSurvey, no. 60, July 1969, and 1968 SAEHandbookNew York:Society of Automotive Engineers, 1968).


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PRP SEARCHES * 31decades etailinghe various onstituentsf gasolinen various egions fthecountry.3While he clientswere mpressed y thehistorians'reativ-ity, they decided hatthe site did not warrant major, rcane, ndun-precedentedampling ffort.Nonetheless, he additionalasolinedatadid result n certain eststo datethe spilledmaterialhrough nalysis fits leadcontent.A successfill RP earchwillbring party rpartieswhoaredemonstra-blyresponsibleorat eastpart f the contaminationo theattentionf theauthorities. he new PRPs hen become iable,either hrough egotia-tion,administrativeetermination,r litigation,ora share f the clean-up costs.A historian's orkon the casemay topat thatpoint,or it maycontinue hrough he next phase n whichthe agenciesor the courtsactually ssign portion f responsibilityo eachPRP.

Allocations of ResponsibilityEnvironmentallean-upwork s expensive.Recently, n a site of ap-proximatelyneacre n a suburbanommunityn southernWashington,

tenantspilleda largequantity f sandblasting aterials. he landlordhireda consultingirm o conduct preliminarytudyassessing hetherthespillwas ikely o havecaused ignificantnvironmentalamageo theproperty.A simplequalifyingtudydeterminedhatthe chemical on-stituents f the spilledmaterial ereheavymetals nd hat he probabledepth o the underlyingroundwaterasmore han100 eet. This tudycost the concernedandlord bout$3,000.Although eavymetalsarerelativelynert, nclinedneither o degradationor to rapidmigration,andalthoughhe water upplywasfar rom he surfacewhere he spilloccurred,he landlordwantedadditionalssurancehatthe entiresitewasnotcontaminated.ccordingly,he Srmconducted systematicitecharacterizationnvolving hirteensamplingocations t intersectionsalong gridded quare.Three amples, neeachatfive-foot,en-foot, ndtwenty-foot epths,at eachof the thirteen ocations ielded hirty-ninesamplesaken or aboratorynalysis. heborings lone ost$18,000, ndthe tests,which cannedhe samplesormetal ontent nly,cost$2,500.The analysis howed hatexcept or the localized reaof spill, the siteappeared lean. All that remainedwas for a licensedhazardous astehauler o remove he spilledmaterial ndtake t to a Class1 hazardouswastedump itewhere t wouldbe held,presumablyorever,n thenameof the landlord. hat ost$3,500.The otal ost or hissimple emediation,herefore,xceeded 27,000.While he landownerooted he bill,he alsonegotiated ith he responsi-

13. CaliforniaDepartment of Health Services, Toxic Substances Control Division, Expen-diture Plan for the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Bond Act of 1984 (Sacramento: GPO,Revision No. 4, January 1989), 669-70.


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32 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIANbletenantorreimbursement.n caseswhere hecontaminationroblemis more omplex nddangerous,uch satanold andfillite, hecosts realsogreater.One uch andfill,he McCollite n Orange ounty,Califor-nia, opened o receivewastes n 1942. t is nowon the EPA'sNationalPriority istof the country's orst ontaminateditesandon the state'sSuperind ist. Theprincipalontaminantt McColls acidic etroleumsludge,whichhas mpairedhe soil,air,andgroundwaterupply.l4 heproposediteremediation,ncludinghesitecharacterization,ther ech-nical tudies, ndPRP earches,s occurringntwophases.The irst haseaddresseshe soils and wasteat the site; the secondwill address hegroundwaterroblem.5 n 1989, heofficialstimatedost or ompletionof ust he firstphasewasas highas $110million.Theagencies eedmany r at leastdeeppocketso cover uchcosts,and heir oolofstrictiabilitymay ncline hem o disproportionatelloca-tions.A clearandcomplete istory f a PRP's perationsnd ts relation-ship o a contaminateditecanoftendeflect uchallocations,speciallyncases ikeMcColl heremultipleources roducedignificantontamina-tion.If a companyaskeptaccessiblendcompleteecords n tschemi-calpurchases,orexample,hen t maybe able o demonstratehat hetypesof waste t hasgenerated ver imeare essvirulenthan he con-taminatinghemicalst the subject ite. Similarly,ecordshowing ay-ments o haulers,monthly roductionndsales igures, ewerdisposalpermits, ndso on, willhelpenable calculationf the amount f wastematterhe company roduced. ome ecords ctuallyhow hat hecom-pany'swasteswent o another umpsitentirely.Historiansanorganizesuch nternal ecords, nalyze hem or theirsubstantiveata,andde-velopa comprehensiveicture f the company'sperationsver ime.Acorporation ayeven be amenableo establishingn environmentalr-chiveof its disparateecords.6 If thehistorianses hese nternalecordswellanddevelops convincingarrativefthecompany'srowth, roduc-tion,andhousekeepingractices,henextrapolationecomes ossible.nlightof an overall nderstandingf the company,he agencies r courtswill ind he absence f harddata oranygivenyear ess mportanto theultimate llocationalculations.Historiansanassist n thedevelopmentfa company'sroductionndwastehistory venwithout ccess o internalecords.As straightforwardas it may eem,often he agenciesnvolved r the companieshemselveshavea poor deaof how onganyPRPwas n business r locatedn theareaof the contamination.he industrialleaning ompoundmanufac-turer,aboutwhich he historians engineer adpresented ata o the

14. Ibid., 669.15. Ibid.16. See Shelley Bookspan, CorporateArchives in the Era of Superfund, n ArnitaJonesand Philip Cantelon, eds., CorporateArchivesand History Melbourne, Fla.: KriegerPress, 1991).


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PRP SEARCHES * 33Californiaepartmentf HealthServices,s a case n point.That om-pany,nbusinessoday nderheumbrellafalarge,multinationalorpo-ration, laimed ohaveoccupiedhesubjectiteforabout ightyears nthe 1940s.Usingbuilding ermits, itydirectories,ndotherevidence,thehistorianasily howedhecompany'senureonsiteto befour imesaslong.Moreover,hecompanylaimed ohaveusedonlysmallquanti-tiesofchemicalsuringtsyears here,butthehistorian asable ofindlarge-scaleerial hotographshowing undredsf55-gallonrums iledinthefactoryard.Morespecificnformationbouta company'swastetreammaybeavailablehrough ublicagency ecords.Asearlyasthe1930s,orexam-ple,anurbanactorymaywellhavehad o applyoranindustrialastedisposal ermit n order o usethepublic ewersystem.Extant ermitrecordsn the publicworksdepartmentmayshowwastevolumes ndtypeson anannual asis.Variousmanufacturerensusesmayalsoaddressproductionolumes.Themajoronstraintsntheresourcematerial illno doubtbe the historian'smaginationndbudget.Whenmillions fdollarsreatstake, helatter hould ssumeessimportance.

The ResultsWhethert is through nout-of-court-settledonsentdecree,bindingarbitration,rlitigation, RPson a federalSuperfundranalogousitewilleventuallygree o ashare ftheclean-uposts.Insomecases, uchastheStringfellowuperfundandfillite nRiverside ounty,California,theEPAwillassignotalresponsibilityo afewwealthyorporations,ndlet thosecompaniesdentify,negotiatewith,andlitigateagainst ddi-tionalPRPs hemselves.l7 ot surprisingly,argecorporationsn suchproceedingselieve hat heyareshouldering ore han heirustshareofthenation'slean-upill,and hat heyarealsodoinghegovernment'sfact-finding.AnothernfluentialroupdissatisfiedithSuperfunds theinsuranceindustry. ourt ecisions aveheld hatunlessheycontainxplicit ollu-tionexclusion lauses,mostcomprehensiveeneral iabilitynsurancepoliciesmustbeconsideredocover hecostsoftoxic-wasteemediation.Consequently,nsuranceompaniesmustpayforclean-upn instanceswherePRPscanprovecoverageduring he yearswhenpollution c-curred.This hreatensocosttheinsurancendustryomuchmoneyhatone argensurancenderwriter,IG, sconductingmassmediaobby-ingcampaigno replace heretroactiveiability rovisionsfSuperfund17. CourtHolds 13 Firms Liable for StringfellowCleanup, Los Angeles Times,June 6,1987, PartII, p. 1.


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34 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIANwitha National nvironmentalrustFund inanced y a surchargencurrentnsuranceremiums.8As longas currentmethods or environmentalost recovery ersist,however,herewill be an important arketorthosewhocanassist nidentifyingnd locatingPRPs.Trainedo findand interpretorgotteninformation,istoriansre gaining reputations technicalxperts ndareachieving share f thismarket.OXcentumped y requestsorpro-duction fdata enortwenty rfilty ears ld,many onhistoriansuchascorporatettorneysr managersave rouble elievinghat elevantec-ords xistandare indable. venwhen heyventureo let a historianntothe case, they mayremain keptical ntilthey see the firstmemoorreport.Onceconverted,heirrecognitionf the specialtyhat s historymay ranslatento he depiction f historianss engineers. heappella-tion s intended s a compliment.

18. AIG regularlypublishes wo-pageadvertisements romoting oxic waste liabilityreform n severalnationally irculatedmagazines. ee, for example,The New Yorker, Au-gust27, 1990,52-3 andTime, March 6, 1990,pp. 14-15.

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