Government regulation of contaminated land : a tale of three cities

Land contamination has become one of the major environmental concerns. Governments around the world have tried to prevent and control this environmental problem by passing relevant legislation. Different countries have different approaches to regulate contaminated land. This article provides a comparative examination of the regulation of contaminated property in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, The scope of the study is focused on three cities - Sydney (NSW), Auckland (NZ) and Cleveland (Ohio, USA). Relative strengths and weaknesses of the land contamination regulation in these three countries are outlined. Policy recommendations for regulation of contaminated land are given at the end of the article.