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Recovering Hazardous Waste Cleanup Costs: The Private Cause Of Action Under Cercla, Jeffrey M. Gaba

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), a broadly defined group of landowners, transporters, and generators of hazardous waste are liable for the costs of cleaning up hazardous waste sites. CERCLA provides the government with powerful tools to impose this liability. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority both to compel responsible parties to clean up the site or to clean up the site itself and recover its expenses from these parties.

The government is not the only party, however, that can impose liability for hazardous waste cleanup costs. Section 107(a)(4)(B) of CERCLA provides …