PAYING FOR PERMANENCE - AN ECONOMIC-ANALYSIS OF EPAS CLEANUP DECISIONS AT SUPERFUND SITES

We analyze EPA's cleanup decisions at over 100 Superfund sires and exa mine whether and how EPA trades off the cost against the permanence of cleanup. EPA's decisions reveal both a preference for permanent solut ions and an aversion to cost. For example, EPA prefers incinerating so ils to isolating and containing them in place, bur not at any price. A t larger sites EPA appears willing to accept additional costs of as mu ch as $40 million to incinerate, With regard to environmental equity, we find little evidence that EPA's cost-permanence tradeoff is affecte d by socioeconomic characteristics in the communities surrounding site s.