Arsenic Abatement And Resale

The problem for homeowners (in this case, a late middle-aged couple occupying the upper half of the duplex) is that the EPA has tested their soils and found them hazardous. If they don't agree to the abatement process, a prospective purchaser (or renter) could ask them to finance the abatement themselves, or discount the home's price.

Abatement in this project averaged over fifty grand per yard.

A (Slightly) Targeted Keynesian Project

There was a lot of digging on my block this summer: abatement of arsenic-contaminated soil -- ostensibly from a long-gone pesticide manufacturer, in business until 1968, about a half mile away. The money came from the Recovery Act. It raised a lot of questions for me:

   1. Was cleanup necessary; meaning was the arsenic an actual hazard, and was there a better method?
I don't know, but a landscaper friend has suggested a method that might work, much more inexpensively, and with other benefits.

   2. Is the problem limited to this geographic area?
Contamination is proportional to proximity to the old poison factory only at low levels, and otherwise is related to historical chemical use by homeowners, implying that the EPA could take its project just about anywhere.

   3. Is the problem limited to arsenic in garden soils?
Of course not.

   4. Is cleanup society's responsibility?
Yes, in spite of 2.