privatization of the cleanup decision making authority: the Massachusetts MCP.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20009300

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, environmental cleanup processes in Massachusetts were slow, inefficient, and often ineffective. In response to widespread public dissatisfaction, the legislature adopted a new set of regulations that confers full decision-making authority onto private environmental professionals for the cleanup process. The Massachusetts Contingency Plan, or MCP, was enacted in 1993 to streamline and accelerate the cleanup of properties contaminated with oil or hazardous materials. Under this new system, regulated parties can achieve all cleanup and remediation endpoints without direct state oversight. At the center of this new "privatized system" is a private sector environmental professional known as the Licensed Site Professional or LSP.