Author: Alan S. Tenenbaum
Publisher: American Bar Associaton
Published: 2023
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781639052868
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →"This Practice Guide tells the story of the conflict between environmental law and bankruptcy law. These complex bodies of law have dramatically different purposes and have often come into conflict over the last four decades. I hope that this book will help government and private environmental and bankruptcy attorneys navigate the difficult complexities at the intersection of environmental and bankruptcy law by providing in one place a fulsome summary of the law in this area"--
Author: John Barrett
Publisher: Springer
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 240
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →At the October 1996 meeting of the Section on Business Law of the International Bar Association, Committee J presented a programme on environmental issues in insolvency proceedings. The success of the programme encouraged the participants to expand their papers into this book which offers an up-to-date current analysis of the treatment of environmental issues in bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings in six jurisdictions: Canada, Denmark, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Each of the contributors outline the environmental concerns and legal issues within their jurisdiction, address the insolvency issues that arise and the impact of environmental concerns. The book also includes useful insights from a major international bank - Bank of Nova Scotia - into the handling of international credits where environmental concerns are raised in insolvency proceedings.
Author: Anne Lawton
Publisher:
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Legal commentators, policy-makers, and the media argue that the current structures of environmental, bankruptcy, and corporate law permit firms to strategically use bankruptcy to inappropriately displace hundreds of millions of dollars of environmental liability onto taxpayers. However, the proposed solution to this supposed problem - reforming bankruptcy, environmental, and/or corporate law - is draconian, and may cause dramatic and uninteded consequences. Moreover, these demands for reform are occurring in a complete absence of data about whether and to what extent inappropriate strategic use of bankruptcy in this manner actually occurs. We conducted an empirical analysis of Chapter 11 bankruptcies filed in 2004 and closed by mid-2006 to try to determine the extent to which environmental liabilities drive bankruptcy filings, with an eye to examining the following questions. First, how many firms in the data set reported environmental violations, liabilities, or other obligations? Second, of these firms, in how many instances did the environmental issues play a role in the bankruptcy filing? Third, of the firms in which environmental matters caused the bankruptcy filing, in how many cases did the debtor end up shifting the cost of the environmental cleanup to the taxpayer? Fourth, even if environmental obligations did not play a role in the decision to file for bankruptcy, did the debtor avoid paying for environmental remediation either by invoking the Bankruptcy Code's abandonment power or its right to discharge? Finally, is there any evidence that parent corporations are using subsidiaries as a mechanism to siphon off assets, thereby leaving a bankrupt subsidiary with environmental liabilities but no assets with which to satisfy them? Our findings suggest that the strategic use of Chapter 11 to avoid environmental obligations is an uncommon phenomenon. We conclude with suggestions about how to improve the reporting of environmental issues in bankruptcy, and also with a cautionary note about reforming bankruptcy, environmental, or corporate law based on anecdotal, rather than empirical, evidence.
Author: John B. Stephenson
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Published: 2005-11
Total Pages: 92
ISBN-13: 9781422302675
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The burden of cleaning up Superfund & other haz. waste sites is increasingly shifting to taxpayers, part'y. since bus. handling haz. sub. are no longer taxed under Superfund & the backlog of sites needing cleanup is growing. While environ. laws rely on the polluter paysÓ principle, the extent to which liable parties cease oper. or restructure can directly affect the cleanup costs faced by taxpayers. This report: determines how many bus. with liab. under fed. law for environ. cleanups have declared bankruptcy, & how many such cases the gov't. has pursued in court; identifies challenges the EPA faces in holding bankrupt & other financially distressed bus. resp. for their cleanup oblig.; & identifies actions that EPA could take to ensure that bus. pay for their cleanups.
Author: United States. Government Accountability Office
Publisher:
Published: 2005
Total Pages: 92
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: American Bar Association. Committee on Environmental Controls
Publisher:
Published: 1993
Total Pages:
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Roseann B. Termini
Publisher:
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Enforcement of environmental regulations and bankruptcy reorganization are diametrically opposed. A challenge exists to effectuate policies underlying state environmental legislation and federal bankruptcy legislation. These areas are of particular interest because of public concern for environmental protection and economic stability. Congress considers protection of the environment a national priority and has enacted legislation in this area. Currently, there is a debate concerning the funding of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as "Superfund". Divergent views exist among industry, environmentalists, the Administration, House Democrats and Senate Republicans regarding the Superfund and parties responsible for payment. CERCLA established a clean-up fund of tax revenues from chemical and petroleum companies, and under CERCLA the federal government cleans up hazardous waste dumps and attempts to recover costs from dump owners and waste producers. Congress is considering a waste-end tax thereby spreading the financial burden to mining, aluminum and electronics industries that utilize the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) certified disposal facilities. The tax assessment would be based on the amount of waste disposed. This tax method is a sounder approach than basing the tax on the quantity of raw materials involved in the manufacturing process because the burden is equitably distributed. In addition to federal legislation, states also expressed concern for protecting the environment and enacted such legislation. Moreover, there are joint efforts in the solid waste management area with the federal government providing financial assistance. Congress addressed the issues of economic stability and inflation in the Bankruptcy Reform Act (BRA), referred to as the Bankruptcy Code. Although the procedural mechanisms are complex, the provisions did liberalize the reorganization process. In doing so, economic instability has been alleviated through preserving business entities. However, there is an apparent conflict with environmental regulation enforcement and the BRA liberalization. The issue is whether Congress, in enacting the BRA, intended that a petitioner in bankruptcy be permitted to violate public health and safety regulations. Potential conflicts involved in the BRA and environmental protection include: omission of the requirement in pre-code bankruptcy law of legal insolvency prior to seeking bankruptcy court protection, lack of an explicit good faith requirement in filing a bankruptcy petition, police power, and the impact of the BRA automatic stay section and its application to governmental units. After reviewing the background on bankruptcy proceedings, the impact of the automatic and discretionary stays of the BRA on police power in environmental regulation will be addressed and solutions to the bankruptcy/environmental conflict will be suggested.