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<br />affected and in many cases, the parties responsible for the pollution no longer exist or <br /> <br />are not financially viable. <br /> <br />A variety of parties, including nonprofit organizations and state and local governments, <br />are willing to voluntarily clean up these orphaned and abandoned sites, though they <br />are not responsible for the pollution. However, many potential Good Samaritans have <br />been deterred by concerns that they may be held liable under the Clean Water Act and <br />CERCLA (or Superfund law) for any contributions to discharges that might result from <br />their clean up efforts. Such legal uncertainties have prevented many parties from <br />undertaking cleanup projects. For details see: <br />http://www . epa. gov I comp liance/resources/pu b li ca tionsl cleanu p Is u perfund/factsheet/ g <br />oodsam-tools-fs.html <br /> <br />Interior Secretary Scraps Proposed Changes To Endangered Species Law: <br />On May 25th, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced that he has scrapped a <br />proposal that critics said would protect fewer rare plants and animals from extinction. <br /> <br />Kempthorne said that while he doesn't think Congress should change the Endangered <br />Species Act, the department is still looking for ways to change how the law is enforced. <br /> <br />Environmentalists in March had made public a draft of rule changes the Interior <br />Department was considering that they said would reduce the number of species that <br />could be saved. They said the draft changes were so broad they amounted to gutting <br />the program. <br /> <br />For the complete story, go to the following link: <br />http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007 /05/26/news/nation/12_20 _ 495_25_07. txt <br /> <br />Arizona Passes Limits On Growth: Arizona lawmakers have voted to expand <br />the state's growth management efforts, approving a bipartisan bill to empower counties <br />and cities to place new restrictions on rural development without adequate water <br />supplies. <br /> <br />Legislative approval of the measure came a quarter-century after the 1980 enactment of <br />a historic groundwater management law imposing new pumping and irrigation <br />restrictions in "active management areas." Those areas include Phoenix, Tucson and <br />Prescott. Those urban-oriented restrictions were aimed at curbing groundwater <br />depletion that outpaced natural replacement. <br /> <br />7 <br />