Editors' Summary: The huge liabilities associated with cleanup of hazardous waste sites have driven some waste generators and disposers into bankruptcy. When this happens, business creditors find themselves fighting with the government and cleanup-related claimants over the bankrupt's assets.These confrontations have become more common: the Supreme Court has already handed down one ruling in a cleanup-bankruptcy case, Kovacs, and has granted certiorari in two more. The authors give a brief overview of federal hazardous waste and bankruptcy laws and then explore their interaction in four key areas: the discharge of cleanup liability, the priority of a cleanup claim in relation to other creditors, the abandonment of waste sites to avoid liability, and the effect of the automatic bankruptcy stay on hazardous waste litigation. They suggest how many of the unresolved legal issues in these areas could be decided and discuss how the law will affect parties responsible for cleanup and their creditors.