The goal of this research is to analyze practical problems that may arise when managing and remediating contaminated soils on the basis of Korean environmental laws, and to present measures and policies to address those problems. The first part of this report deals with problems encountered in the process of enforcing the Soil Environment Conservation Act (SECA), and provides a strategic vision for devising environmental policy. U. S. laws such as CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980; also known as the Superfund Act), and RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) were reviewed and several actual cases of cleanup of contaminated sites of U. S. were studied.
The problems associated with management and cleanup of contaminated soils in Korea can be summarized as follows: i) uncertainty of definition of 'contaminated soil', ii) no guidance on determination of responsible parties and liability for the soil contamination, iii) no detailed instruction for the cleanup process such as determination of cleanup goal, iv) dispersion of legislative authority, v) no cleanup fund program, and vi) lack of information and education that would encourage participation of local communities.
In the U. S., the primary federal environmental laws governing the investigation and cleanup of contaminated sites, Superfund and the RCRA, operate in tandem with each other in a harmonized manner. However, the following problems have been raised in the process of enforcement of the Superfund program: i) Superfund spent too much money on protracted l