Chapter 25, Problem 4BCP

Superfund. A by-product of phosphate fertilizer production is pyrite waste, which contains arsenic and lead. From $1884$ to $1906$, seven phosphate fertilizer plants operated on a forty-three-acre site in Charleston, South Carolina. Planters Fertilizer & Phosphate Co. bought the site in 1906 and continued to make fertilizer. In $1966$, Planters sold the site to Columbia Nitrogen Corp. (CNC), which also operated the fertilizer plants. In $1985$, CNC sold the site to James Holcombe and J. Henry Fair. Holcombe and Fair subdivided and sold the site to All waste Tank Cleaning Inc., Robin Hood Container Express, the city of Charleston, and Ashley II of Charleston, Inc. Ashley spent almost $\text{\$}200,000$ cleaning up the contaminated soil. Who can be held liable for the cost? Why? [PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston LLC, $\text{714 F}\text{.3d 161}$ (4th Cir.2013)] (See Toxic Chemicals and Hazardous Waste.)