Robert A. Sherrill (J.D. 2024, USC), Note, Beauty in Desolation: Addressing America's Waste Crisis through Tax Reform, 33 S. Cal. Interdisc. L.J. 209 (2023): 

Contaminated waste sites proliferate across the United States. However, current cleanup incentives fail to induce necessary private sector engagement. Environmental taxation can be a crucial instrument for addressing this issue. This Note begins by exploring why neither the free market, nor regulation is well-suited to manage contamination cleanups on abandoned properties. The Note then proposes a two-phase tax reform for addressing hazardous waste. First, Congress should expand the incentives available to developers to perform the necessary cleanups. Second, an effluent tax should be implemented on large quantity hazardous waste producers to promote the polluter-pays principle and to enhance the efficiency of waste management. 

This second phase should be introduced in conjunction with the phasing out of detrimental expenditures that distort market forces in favor of polluting behaviors.

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