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U.S. v. NEPACCO One of the most problematic and expensive environmental laws in the United States is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensating and Liability Act (CERCLA) or Superfund as it is commonly known was the subject of a 1980 court case that put CERCLA to the test. In United States v. Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company (NEPACCO), the government sued NEPACCO for illegal dumping of toxic waste and then forcing NEPACCO to pay for the clean up costs. This case was one of the first cases in which the government used the recently passed CERCLA for legal basis of the charges. CERCLA was signed into law on December 11, 1980 by President Jimmy Carter (Chapman, 189). NEPACCO during the years of 1970 until 1972 had produced hexachlorophene at its Verona, Missouri plant. The defendants Edwin Michaels, president of NEPACCO and John W. Lee was the Vice President, also Ronald Mills was the shift supervisor at the plant. The processing of hexachlorophene also produced toxic by products such as toluene and dioxin. In July of 1971, Mills with assistance had taken 85 barrels of toxic waste and buried them in a trench located at the Denny Farm site (ELR, Sec. 2). In 1979 the Environmental Protection Agency