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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.