The Nation - News from May 26, 1989

Laws intended to make polluters pay for oil spills and toxic wastes are not working because the government hasn’t been willing to spend enough to assess the damages, a House subcommittee was told. State environmental prosecutors from New York and Massachusetts said Interior Department regulations, coupled with the lack of funds for assessment studies, actually obstruct more than enhance efforts to make polluters pay. “The rules so severely limited the damages collectable that, to our knowledge, no state trustees have used the regulations in the almost three years since their promulgation,” New York Assistant Atty. Gen. Gordon Johnson told the House subcommittee on fisheries and wildlife conservation.