Who should pay to clean up pollution?

Question

In regards to taxes, fees, etc. that we all hate, who should be required to pay in the following scenario.

Mom and Pop gas station has leaking underground gas tanks. Mom and Pop know the tanks are leaking (by their daily inventory numbers) but don't have the $75,000 to replace them. Exxon (for example), who licensed the distributership to Mom and Pop, knows the tanks are leaking but refuses to get involved.

The leaking gasoline pollutes the local water supply and contaminates the nearby city well, which supplies potable water to local residents.

So who should pay to clean up the groundwater and the public drinking water well? Which will cost $100,000 initially and $1,000,000 over the lifetime of the clean up.

1) Mom and Pop by being sued into bankruptcy by the local water service district.

2) The water service district should absorb the costs.

3) The residents who drink the water through higher monthly fees for water.

4) Exxon.

5) Add a $0.10 per gallon fee to the gasoline dispensed at the station to cover the costs.

This particular scenario happens more often than you think. Every municipality and state has a different way of addressing it. I am interested how YA people think it should be addressed.

BTW: There is no real good answer, because we all end up paying for it in the end.

Answer 1

Exxon should.  In similar cases the companies who claim to maintain the product or service have to bear the costs.

Answer 2

The polluters, of course.

Sorry, I despise Exxon as much as the next guy. But if "Mom and Pop knew" there was a leak, the responsibility to SHUT DOWN IMMEDIATELY falls on their shoulders.

And on a bright note - if Exxon knew the tanks were leaking and CONTINUED to fill them with gas? They most certainly ARE LIABLE for the contamination.

But good luck fighting their leagues of attorneys. Just ask any resident of Prince William Sound.

Answer 3

1) It is their land and their property they are the ones responsible for controlling the pollution

You asked who "should" pay not who will end up paying