Editors' Summary: Cleaning up hazardous waste often involves complicated questions of law, science, and engineering, all intertwined. Yet, too often professionals of each discipline do not talk to one another, or fail to understand central concepts in each other's fields. To be successful, environmental lawyers are called upon to be not only experts on the law, but also generalists on the scientific and engineering issues involved in cleaning up hazardous waste.

In this Article, the author, a chemical engineer, surveys the technologies available to clean up hazardous waste. He outlines the kinds of contamination the various technologies are suited for and how they can mesh into an overall cleanup plan. He concludes by noting that lawyers who understand the technology available can often act affirmatively to get hazardous waste sites cleaned up, improving environmental quality and saving their clients' money at the same time.