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ECONOMIC, LEGAL, AND PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN HAZARDOUS WASTE 177 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. company has begun excavating the drums and at one time estimated it would take two years to remove all of them. The company now says they have removed 12 truckloads of drums and soil and that another 83 truckloads remain. We sought access for an immediate removal of the drums. In mid-1985 the judge called our department and the company into a hearing and ordered the company to turn over its manifests so we could have an idea of the number of drums remaining. The company wanted us to drop the lawsuit, but we refused for obvious reasons, which include the fact that the extent of contamination is not fully known. The judge later met with representatives of the department and the company at the site. However, he still has not ruled on whether the department may have access to the site to conduct an assessment and cleanup. Sovereign Immunity When a state spends money to clean up toxic waste, it ordinarily seeks reimbursement from the responsible parties. However, a recent court decision on the Silvex site in Florida, where the U.S. Navy was one of the responsible parties, prevents states from recovering funds when the responsible party is the federal government. This ruling reinforced the idea of "sovereign immunity" of federal facilities from state regulations. The federal government, especially the military, is one of Florida's largest generators of hazardous waste. Recent reports estimate that the cost of cleanup at military installations around the country may reach as high as $10 billion. Despite the problems found onsite at federal facilities, the greatest difficulty has been with offsite problems. When contamination has been found on the grounds of a federal facility, states have obtained some cooperation and commitment from the federal government. When the problem is offsite, however, there has been no cooperation at all, making it appear that the federal government supports the concept of joint and several liability only when it applies to someone else. The site of the City Chemical Company in Orlando provides another example of the problem of sovereign immunity. Large volumes of hazardous waste were improperly disposed of at the site between 1979 and 1983. The state has spent more than $1 million, and the EPA more than $500,000, on surface cleanup at the site. A remedial investigation is under way to determine the extent of groundwater contamination. The DER is negotiating with more than 240 hazardous waste generators for the recovery of cleanup costs at this site. Two of the generators are federal agencies. The fact that federal generators may not be required to pay their share of the cost has caused problems in negotiations with the other 238
