Part 1:

Westfield owns and provides management services for several shopping centers. After five years with the company,

James Heller was recently promoted to the position of manager of one of Westfields smaller malls on the outskirts

of a downtown area. When he accepted the assignment, James was told that he would hold the position for only a

couple of years because that mall would likely be torn down to make way for a new sports stadium. James was also

told that if he did well in this assignment, he would be in line for heading one of the companys new 200-store

operations that were currently in the planning stage. While reviewing the malls financial records for the past few

years, James observed that last years oil consumption was up by 8%, even though the number of heating degree

days was down by 4%. Somewhat curious, James uncovered the following information:

The mall is heated by forced-air oil heat. The furnace is five years old and has been well maintained.

Fuel oil is kept in four 5,000-gallon underground oil tanks. The oil tanks were installed 25 years ago.

Replacing the tanks would cost $80,000. If pollution was found, cleanup costs could go as high as $2,000,000,

depending on how much oil had leaked into the ground and how far it had spread.

Replacing the tanks would add more congestion to the malls parking situation.

Required

What should James do? Explain