We analyze EPA's cleanup decisions at over 100 Superfund sites and examine whether and how EPA trades off the cost against the permanence of cleanup. EPA's decisions reveal both a preference for permanent solutions and an aversion to cost. For example, EPA prefers incinerating soils to isolating...

Under the Superfund law, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for inspecting hazardous waste sites and for putting those with the most serious contamination problems on a national priorities list. The EPA then oversees the cleanup of these sites, suing potentially...