ABSTRACT
From an ethical perspective, environmental remediation is important, but overlooked. Remediation raises numerous ethical questions. Should all contaminated sites be remediated? What levels and kinds of remediation are acceptable? How can risks to human health and the environment from residual contamination be minimized? How can remediation practices avoid unfairly burdening certain groups and communities? There are important ties between remediation, environmental justice, and environmental health, and remediation raises questions of who should bear the burdens of contamination, and who should pay for cleanup, as well as issues involving disclosure, right to know, and right to participate in environmental decision-making. There are also challenges of intergenerational justice, as many toxic legacies will remain for generations, centuries, or even millennia to come. Examining the ethics of environmental remediation provides a practical context for developing richer theoretical perspectives and frameworks. However, linking the practical and theoretical is challenging, because it requires careful philosophical thought as well as an understanding of the policies, laws, and institutions that govern remediation, and the social, cultural, and economic issues at play.
