Date of Award

6-2005

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Geography

First Advisor

Dr. Lisa DeChano

Second Advisor

Dr. Chansheng He

Third Advisor

Dr. Gregory Veeck

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The United States Superfund program has been quite controversial since it was established under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act in 1980. Several people feel that the enormous amounts of time and money invested in the Superfund program are not worthwhile because so many sites remain far from being cleaned up. Nevertheless, some successful site restorations have been achieved under this program. The Petersen Sand & Gravel site is one of these success stories. This thesis examines why the Petersen Sand & Gravel site was able to experience such success under the Superfund program by taking history, economics, local involvement, and other Superfund successes into account.

The Petersen Sand & Gravel site experienced success under the Superfund program because it was a "No Further Action" site, there had been a plan in place for its future use, one person was responsible for its contamination, numerous partnerships were formed, financial resources came from many different sources, and the community was kept well informed and supported the project. Hopefully lessons learned from this site's transformation can be applied to other Superfund sites across the country that remain heavily polluted, as well as to other restoration projects.

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