Superfund: The Ascendance of Enabling Myths

Industrial manufacturing, particularly in petroleum and chemical industries, has a history associated with hazardous waste disposal practices leading to highly contaminated sites. The evolution of the US Superfund policy addressing the cleanup of these sites is an opportunity to examine principles upon which Superfund was founded and subsequent myths that emerged in response to the influence of powerful interests. Specifically, the paper analyzes the processes undergirding espoused principles, comparing the correspondence between the principle and processes. It argues that originating principles of Superfund - polluter pays and the primacy of public health - were supported by processes but that as power structures changed, new processes were instituted that undermined these principles.