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ECONOMIC, LEGAL, AND PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN HAZARDOUS WASTE 176 CLEANUP AND MANAGEMENT original typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths, word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific formatting, however, cannot be About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the original work has been recomposed from XML files created from the original paper book, not from the retained, and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution. increasing tremendously, and applications for coverage are taking a minimum of six months to process. Although all of Florida's treatment, storage, and disposal facilities whose coverage has been discontinued have been able to obtain coverage elsewhere, the cancellation and nonrenewal of policies are expected to continue as more and more companies eliminate sudden and accidental coverage. There is no doubt that the nation's hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities will have difficulty maintaining compliance with liability requirements. Although Florida state law requires financial responsibility insurance for nonhazardous waste storage tanks, we are having difficulty developing a corresponding rule because insurance companies are unwilling to provide such insurance. EPA also is struggling with this issue at the national level. LEGAL PROBLEMS The legal problems we encounter can cause delays in cleanup when cases are tied up in court and can involve issues of liability and sovereign immunity. It seems that we at the state level are still dealing with the more mundane legal issues while, at the national level, EPA deals with more esoteric legal issues, such as the statute of limitations, private claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), past and present landowner liability, joint and several liability, and insurance company liability. Cleanup Delays In a case involving Montco Research Products, Inc., a circuit court judge has withheld a ruling for over a year on a motion to grant access to a site in northeast Florida. According to Montco, some 1,000 drums of hazardous wastes from its chemical manufacturing and refining operations were placed in a landfill at the site before 1980. Soil samples taken by EPA in 1981 showed contamination from cyanide, lead, mercury, and other pollutants. The water table in this area is only a few inches below the surface, and groundwater was also contaminated. Pollution problems at the site were complicated in 1980 by a fire in buildings for drying and storage. Runoff from fire-fighting activities contaminated sediments in a nearby swamp. In 1983 the DER offered the company a consent order requiring study of the area and removal of the drums. The company refused to sign the consent order, so the department went to court to obtain access to the site to conduct an assessment and begin cleanup. That was more than a year ago. The
