An Opinion On “The Superfund Bait and Switch”
I remember how in the very early 1980s CERCLA made it almost impossible to put a lien on commercial real estate estate except in virgin country (created the incentive to build new plant and facilities away from downtown and mid-town areas). Bankers finally figured out how to lien existing real estate safely when the environmental engineering business matured and CERCLA was modified, but the contraction in lending in the very early 1980s undoubtedly led to the severity of the 1983 recession.
Now, lenders will have the uncertainty of trying to determine which companies will have contigent liability for clean-up taxes under the EPA’s new approach. This is will also contract lending precisely at the wrong time and keep unemployment unacceptably high.
