Thanks to recent legislation and court decisions, bankruptcy law and hazardous waste law now overlap substantially. Bankruptcy law creates a process to convert the bankrupt's estate into cash and distribute it among creditors. Bankruptcy trustees have a fiduciary duty to maximize assets available to satisfy creditors. At the same time, environmental law seeks to make funds available for hazardous waste cleanup that is frequently expensive.

This Dialogue outlines the general structure of bankruptcy law, and then surveys recent court decisions on the interplay between bankruptcy and hazardous waste law.¹