Number: 1980-09
WHEREAS, the failure to assure safe disposal and management of hazardous wastes has created a substantial danger to the public health and safety, and to the natural resources (including fish and wildlife), of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the majority of hazardous waste is disposed of in landfills and many of these landfills are being abandoned or discontinued without adequate controls on the release of toxic chemicals into the environment–to the serious detriment of persons, property, and natural resources; and
WHEREAS, the nature of toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes requires quick response, removal, containment, and mitigation by qualified personnel and at great expense; and
WHEREAS, the victims of hazardous waste releases are often unable to satisfy the stringent proof requirements of the common law of most states; and
WHEREAS, those who profit from the manufacture, distribution, and disposal of hazardous wastes should count the costs of proper management and disposal as part of the cost of doing business;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 20-23, 1980, in Miami Beach, Fla., hereby urges the Congress of the United States to accelerate efforts to pass comprehensive and effective Superfund legislation which includes the following features:
- A Fund based on industry assessments (necessary to assure the availability of adequate funds and to internalize the costs of managing hazardous wastes);
- Authority, and adequate and assured funding, to allow quick and effective responses to emergencies involving releases or threatened releases of toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes;
- Authorization of third-party damage actions to enable victims of hazardous waste releases to obtain compensation for their injuries directly from those responsible;
- Recognition of hazardous waste handling activities as abnormally dangerous and, therefore, as justifying the imposition of strict liability (i.e., liability without fault based on inherent risk, rather than liability limited to willful or negligent conduct) on those responsible for hazardous waste release [although this is the legal standard that would now be employed in most states, a unifying federal standard is needed]; and
- Imposition of joint and several liability on all substantial contributors to hazardous waste releases (necessary to avoid imposing the unfair burden on victims to identify all partial contributors and the extent of their contributions);
- Adoption of common-sense rules of causation which allow victims of hazardous waste releases to use statistical, epidemiological and other suggestive evidence to demonstrate that they were harmed by a hazardous waste release (necessary because, under present causation rules, individual victims are required to show that specific releases were directly responsible for their individual injuries often impossible, where chemicals, e.g., carcinogens, produce their effects after long delays); and
- Recognition that damages to natural resources by hazardous wastes must be compensated and mitigated.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization supports the adoption of Superfund legislation which provides incentives for adequate and effective industry and state involvement in hazardous waste management, clean up, and containment at hazardous waste facilities.