Negotiating Superfund Mixed Funding Settlements

November 1991
Citation:
21
ELR 10651
Issue
11
Author
Barry E. Hill

Editors' Summary: Often, the hardest part of getting Superfund cleanup underway is finding a workable compromise between the government's assertions of joint and several liability and defendants' willingness to pay only "their share." In 1986, seeking to break such impasses, Congress added specific authority for the government to pay for part of the cleanup. Such "mixed funding" settlements have always been conceptually attractive, but not so easy to implement without criticism. In this Article, the author outlines the underlying legal authorities and tracks the cases in which mixed funding has been used. Finally, he suggests ways to use mixed funding most appropriately.

Barry E. Hill is Of Counsel to the firm of Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin. Mr. Hill was formerly a Project Manager in the Superfund Business Unit of ICF Incorporated, a major contractor for the Superfund program since 1980. While at ICF Incorporated, Mr. Hill managed the project that developed EPA's mixed funding program and also provided mediation services at Superfund sites. He was Legal Counsel to the EPA Inspector General when Superfund was enacted. Mr. Hill was recently appointed by the President of the American Bar Association as a member of the Standing Committee on Environmental Law for a three-year term. His practice is directed to environmental and natural resources law, and to public policy and governmental affairs.

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