Let me turn to the subject of the environmental liabilities imposed on landowners, tenants, and lenders, and the question of how far those can, and should, extend.

 would like to begin with the concept that the environmental laws, and particularly the hazardous waste laws, are designed and intended primarily to impose liability on those that have profited from, or were involved in the creation of, the condition that is now the basis for liability. Clearly the rationale that the "polluter must pay" was evident in the original Superfund/CERCLA provisions. The Fund as created was largely subsidized by pollution "excise taxes" levied on the chemical and petroleum industries. In economic terms, this may have represented an effort, at least in part, to internalize the costs of hazardous waste by taxing those thought to be the principal producers.