OWEN OLPIN: Welcome to the 13th Annual Conference on the Environment, sponsored by the ABA's Standing Committee on Environmental Law. To open our discussion of hazardous waste siting issues, I am delighted to introduce Deputy Administrator Alvin Alm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

ALVIN ALM: I do not need to tell you that hazardous waste is a problem in the United States. EPA's most recent study estimated that in 1981, 71 billion gallons of liquid hazardous waste was being produced annually in this country. That is roughly one metric ton to every person in the United States. We have failed miserably in the past in dealing with hazardous waste, and, due to generations of neglect, our landscape is dotted with health threatening hazardous waste sites. New Jersey alone has 85 Superfund¹ sites.