Superfund sites (or how companies grew to love the Bush Administration)

This story from the East Valley Tribune goes into Motorola's attempt to discontinue a program that filters trichloroethylene from the air in Phoenix. The contamination is the result of their manufacturing polluting ground water. I am trying to not have a knee jerk reaction here, but I kind of feel regardless of the science they should not be able to remove the filters (OK that was knee jerk). Hear me out, they polluted. They permanently damaged a public good and they should be punished for it. I would prefer more severe punishment, but I will take what I can get. If they want to remove the filters then they should have to come up with another equally good way to remove the chemical from the air.

At the end of the day, we have to come up with a better system for pollution control. We need to make pollution much more expensive for companies. Consumers need to understand that higher prices are likely to follow. I have mentioned this before, but this is just a transfer payment from one generation to another. The cost is not born out by the primary beneficiaries.

This sort of pollution does permanent damage and leads to lower home values for the people in the area, higher health care costs, and cleanup costs. Very little of the cost is paid by the people who used the products or the company. We need to correct that...