Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) Proposes "Polluter Pay" Initiative

Just recently learned that Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) has introduced an initiative to make Superfund “polluter Pay”. I was confused by this statement since I was under the presumption that Superfund was always polluter pay. The federal government under the stimulus plan has given money to remediate old bankrupt facilities like the W.R. Grace’s facility in Vineland New Jersey. Lautenberg’s initiative would transfer the federal government footing the bill to a tax for all chemicals would be reinstated. Republicans will probably cry out that prices for every commodity will increase since product is derived from chemicals and that this measure is inflationary. This is true, but companies always pass on regulatory expenses to their consumers. What the Bush Administration and the republicans do not understand is that Superfund liability follows the principals of free market economy. If both company A and company B have similar balance sheets, but company A has more superfund liabilities than company B; company A will increase their price per unit to offset the superfund expense. Meanwhile, company B will most likely increase their prices to compete with company A, but this incremental increase will be all profit (from prudence where/how to dispose their waste or from pure luck). I thought this is what conservative republicans desire: survival of the fittest, and the strongest and most efficient companies will survive!