ABSTRACT
The assumption that every industrial by-product that ends up in soils or natural waters will become a "time bomb" having inevitable repercussions for human health is wrong. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) is that unique program that virtually every sector of the political spectrum agrees must be changed. The primary purpose of environmental cleanups should be to minimize health risk in a timely and cost-efficient fashion. Risk to human health is a concept that is not easily quantified and standardized. In practice, it is difficult to measure a group value of what is "acceptable" risk. Assuming the ultimate object of the environmental cleanup is to minimize health risk in a cost-efficient and timely fashion, cleanup decisions and site characterization should reflect the interplay between cost and health-risk reduction. Natural attenuation is in the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) RBCA guide for petroleum release sites.
