Are the Good Samaritan administrative CERCLA tools a roll back of environmental protections?
No. All parties that are liable for the pollution remain liable for the cleanup. These tools address CERCLA liability concerns of Good Samaritans performing cleanup work. It is not appropriate to hold a volunteer responsible for cleaning up an entire abandoned mine site when its efforts can improve the environment. Without tools that encourage Good Samaritans to perform cleanups, many abandoned hard rock mines will remain polluted, because often the parties responsible for the pollution are no longer in existence or are not financially viable.
