Liability of trustees under CERCLA remains an unanswered question

The comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was passed in 1980 in response to increasing concerns about hazardous waste in America. CERCLA is essentially a strict liability statute, assigning joint and several liability for the costs of hazardous substance cleanup to four classes of potentially responsible parties (PRPs): those who are current owners or operators of a facility contaminated by hazardous substances, those who owned or operated the facility at the time hazardous substances were disposed, those who arranged for transport of hazardous substances, and those who accepted hazardous substances for transport. Significantly, because liability is joint and several, one PRP may bear the entire financial burden of cleaning up a hazardous waste site if other PRPs are insolvent or otherwise unable to contribute to the cleanup costs. 63 refs.