To the protests of environmentalists, however, the new law also reduced guidelines for pollutants, mating the extent of cleanup to a property's intended use. Pollution levels for new industries, for example, became less stringent than for schools and housing. In some cases, the guidelines now allow polluted land simply to be paved over as parking lots. New technologies of burning or washing tainted soil and replacing it on the same site have become alternatives to the more costly excavation of all contaminants. Ten years ago, there was a presumption that removal was the only remedy.
Debate is bound to go back and forth.