Groundwater contamination

Also in today's SGV Tribune:

http://www.sgvtribune.com/search/ci_5710776

There's a plume of groundwater contamination that the EPA thought was coming from the Temple Sheriff's station.  Turns out it's not coming from there.

That means it's coming from somewhere "upstream," which the article says is to the northeast (I don't have any hydrologic maps to say otherwise).  If it is coming directly from the northeast, that's the site of the proposed Piazza Las Tunas development.  This is something that could definitely bring that project to a screeching halt. . . . 

Superfund

I should have clarified why contamination on the property would kill the project:  There's a federal law called CERCLA, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.  Most people just call the law, "Superfund."

Superfund utilizes what they call "strict" liability.  That means if your property is the source of contamination, you need to pay for the cleanup REGARDLESS OF YOUR ROLE IN CREATING THE MESS.  So it's quite possible that the poor (relatively speaking) guy who bought the property where La Piazza is supposed to go is going to get stuck with a multi-million dollar bill to clean up the groundwater under his property.  Either that, or he's going to have to go track down the previous owner, tenant, or dumper who caused the contamination and sue them for cleanup costs.

Critics of Superfund call it the Lawyer's Full Employment Act, because it creates such a litigious mess that everyone "lawyers up" and no one wants to pay for the actual cleanup.

Superfund

Is there insurance against getting caught up in the superfund mess? What a nightmare. I guess the 20th century is like a gift that keeps on giving.