Toward a Superfund cost allocation principle Author Mandelbaum D. Journal/Series The Environmental Lawyer | Vol. 3(1); 117 - 147; 31 p. Date 1996 Source IUCN (ID: ANA-059359) Publisher | Place of publication The George Washington University National Law Center | Washington, DC, USA Language English Country/Territory United States of America Subject Waste & hazardous substances Keyword Hazardous waste Environmental cost allocation Polluted soil cleanups Abstract The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act requires parties who cause the incurrence of response costs at a hazardous waste site to fund the site's cleanup. Potentially responsible parties often cannot agree upon an allocation of costs because each party has its own concept of what is fair. As a result, parties litigate over what allocation is the most equitable. Congress and the courts have provided sparse guidance regarding what constitutes an equitable allocationn Moreover, most CERCLA allocation actions involve the special problem of jointly caused costs. In order to ensure that lawyers and parties do not talk past each other in settlement negotiations and in court, Superfund practitioners need to make explicit the principle upon which their allocation arguments are based. this article proposes that unrelated arrangers who are jointly and severally liable under CERCLA should be responsible for thee costs for which their waste streams are a 'but-for' cause.