Devolving superfund to main street - Avenues for local community involvement

The federal Superfund program, which cleans up properties contaminated with hazardous substances, has received relatively little attention in the plan ning literature. Yet, with ongoing Congressional efforts to tie site cleanu ps to expected land uses, high interest. in promoting redevelopment of cont aminated properties, and broader legislative and regulatory reform efforts to boost decentralized decision making, planners and other local stakeholde rs are increasingly becoming important players in Superfund and other feder al environmental programs. In this article, I examine the experiences of th ree SuperFund sites in the context of a devolutionary sharing of federal re sponsibilities with local-level stakeholders. My objectives are to highligh t the local dynamics of cleanup and redevelopment and to demonstrate the im portance of enforcement, incentives, and information in shaping these dynam ics in SuperFund and other environmental programs that rely increasingly on community involvement and intergovernmental cooperation. I conclude with a discussion of implications for the planning community.