Please read the Case Study #7.1, \"Hazardous Home\" on page 356 of your text. Di
ID: 385340 • Letter: P
Question
Please read the Case Study #7.1, "Hazardous Home" on page 356 of your text.
Discuss the important ethical issues in this case. In your response examine the ethical issues in this case especially from the viewpoint of ethics and the environment. In your response, please identify and evaluate the systems (if any) that were put into place to regulate the product, protect consumers, and ensure corporate compliance. In your response discuss the moral problems associated with irresponsible use and abuse of the environment, the rights of citizens, and the obligation to preserve the environment for future generations.
Please enter your response (minimum 200 words) for the case study.
Hazardous Homes in Herculaneum TWENTY-FIVE MILES OR SO OUTSIDE OF and petroleum-based products. Superfund was authorized to St. Louis, Missouri, lies ittle Herculaneum, a town of only 3,500 recover its costs from the polluters themselves and to use this people. Looming over the town's ecanomy and the local environ- money to pay for future cleanup efforts. In this way, Superfund ment is the Doe Run Company's lead smelter, which dates back would become self-financing, with industry, not the taxpayers to 1892 and is the largest in the United States. For decades, picking up the tab. But the hopes of Supertund's sponsors have federal and state regulators have been after the company for yet to be realized. Congress has repeatedy had to pour money polluting. In 1991, they required Doe Run to replace the on into the program to keep it going;there are continual complaints taminated topsol in the gardens of about ninety houses in the about inefficient, top-heavy administration, and to date only a inity of its smelter. In 2001, a study found that 24 percent of portion of the country's most environmentaly damaged sites have been restored the children under sik lvng within a mile of the company's plant had dangercusly high levels of lead in their blood Moreover, Superfund has grown increasingly and stagger As a result, Doe Run agreed to clean up the site and started ingly expensive. Its cleanup efforts have become mired in law- instaling new pollution-control devices to prevent further con suits, with the resulting litigation costs climbing to the stars tamination.3 In the meantime, however, enviranmental investi The problem, many observers beleve, goes back to the initial gators found lead levels as high as 300,000 parts per million onSuperfund legislation, which permits the EPA to penalize com- a road used by the plant's trucks. Because of the health hazard panies for dumping and polluting that was not illegal at the time that lead contamination poses, the state put up signs warning it occurred. In addition, makes inividual polluters liable for residents af Herculaneum not to let children play outside, and the entire cleanup costs of toxic sites that may have been used the federal government helped out by advising people to alterby many other firms. Corporations disike these liability prin- their diets to resist lead poisoning the gist: Don't drink tea but Ciplas, and they find it less expensive to resist the EPA in court eat mare liver, eggs, whole-grain bread, and ice cream). Nat so than to pay up. "From the individual corporation's perspective, surprisingly, many residents of Herculaneum found this sort of says David Morel, a taxic removal consultant and an expert on assistance insulting. Instead, they urged the federal government Superfund's history, "lawyers' bills are sill cheaper than pay to step in, declare Herculaneum a Superfund cleanup site, and ing for an entire cleanup." And he adds: "The longer you can use federal funds to buy up the whole town. The Environmental stal and convince yourself that you may never have to pay at Protection Agency (EPA), however, maintained that adding all-the more the legal fees seem like a bargain." Herculaneum to the long ist of places seeking a Superfund buyout would only delay a solution. As a result, a flood of lawsuits has slowed Superfund's cleanup efforts to a crawl while the costs af those efforts have The EPA is right not to exaggerate the speed with which ballooned. "The idea [behind Superfund," Mcrell says, "was Superfund projects move. When Congress created Superfund supposed to be 'shovels first and litgation later Instead, it in 1980, sponsors of the legislation beleved that the program has become 'litigation first and shovels never Many experts could mop up the nation's worst touxic dumps and other danger agree that Superlund has become a financial black hole. Legal ously polluted sites within five years and do so for a relatively fees, transaction costs, and administrative overhead asscciated modest $1.6 bilion, to be covered by sales taxes on ernical with its deanup projects are projected to eosed $200 billion.Explanation / Answer
after reading the all case, it is noticed that, the company Doe Run, was established in 1892 and still running. they were supporting the society, local people of the city and to the local government by providing employement, good incomes to the people and paying tax to the government. both congress and EPA both lend their support to run the firm from its inception.
the recent environmental studies notified that, most of the people who are laying and staying in the area, and around the industry, are suffering with high content of lead in their blood. the fact is that, around 24% of the childern were suffering with the problem. they are consuming the water in the area, they are breathing the air which polluted by the firm, and these two causes are the reasons for the problem. not only the child, above 3lakh people were suffered for every 10 billion people from the same problem.
later the EPA and other environmental agencies filed a case against Doe Run to take some environmental measures, to cleanup the pollution, initiate some measures to come out from the problem, take some precautions to overcome the problems. the company is accepted for all these and started implementing of all these.
but here the issue is, what the local bodies, local government and environmental agencies are doing for the long period. industrialization is costing some non-recoverable damages, every one knows it. the company is polluting the environment, which people were strugled. it is the responsibility of government to guide the firm, the prepare some environmental procedures to the firm, and insist the firm to follow those. but in the given case it is not happened. the firm was paid more than $1.6 in the form of taxes, which were enjoyed by the local governments.
at last the firm was closed and most of the people lost their employment, where they worked for the firm for decades together. the financial support to the local schools, local community is withdrawn. due to cost of new technology, the firm is withdrawn from its operations, hence the total city is effected. instead of doing this, the company may run with help of some external agencies. it could be better to both the firm and to the local community also.
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