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About Blue Eco Legal Council The Blue Eco Legal Council advocates environmentally effective remediation of hazardous waste rather than the cost effective compromises currently in vogue with industry and government. Our goal is to be a watchdog over the regulatory community, litigate lapses in environmental protection, and to help other grass roots organizations to do the same in their communities. If you would like to contact us, please e-mail Steven Pollack. |
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Past Pollution If you are dealing with a site that is not currently operating but contains hazardous waste from prior operations then you will be dealing with CERCLA. This environmental statute creates liability for past and present owners of the property. Generally these sites will be administered by the US EPA but often the cleanup will be lead by potentially responsible parties (PRP) with EPA simply overseeing the documents and analysis of the PRP. This creates conflicts where the financially responsible party is making decisions affecting their own pocketbooks. At Blue Eco, we watch over the regulators to make sure they are properly watching over the PRP's. Citizens are empowered under this statute to bring suit for violations that are not being diligently prosecuted by the regulators. |
 | Current Hazardous Waste Waste streams produced by current industry are heavily regulated under RCRA, the Clean Water Act, The Clean Air Act and other environmental statutes. The primary mechanism is the cradle to grave manifest system under RCRA which requires all hazardous waste to be reported, tracked, and for financial assurances to be in place for lifetime care. It is a good system that only tends to break down when the regulatory community overlooks ongoing and continuous violations. These violations are, by law, publicly available and citizens are empowered to bring suit to bring about compliance if the regulatory officials won't. |
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Future Development When a development requires government approval, funds, or participation there are strict requirements that the government study the environmental impacts of the project prior to making the decision to develop. These requirements are found in the NEPA review mandate and the Endangered Species Act. Even though these requirements are well known, for some reason legislative and executive decision makers often brush them aside in favor of their developer friends. Citizens are empowered to stop these developments until the environmental impacts are assessed. |
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