'All Appropriate Inquiry' Regulations Under CERCLA for the Protection of Innocent Landowners

摘要

Although CERCLA imposes broad liability on property owners, innocent landowners can earn protection against such liability by conducting "all appropriate inquiries" into the property before they acquire it and by cooperating with any compliance or cleanup work that must be performed. Given the protection provided by such inquiries, the modest requirements are not so burdensome that prospective landowners should ignore them, especially when the property the owner acquires presents a past of potential concern.