Environmental Law Commons^™

Asarco Llc V. Atlantic Richfield Co., Llc, Taylor A. Simpson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 2009, Asarco reached a settlement agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency for the arsenic-contaminated East Helena lead smelting facility. As part of the settlement, Asarco was responsible for $111.4 million in cleanup and remediation expenses. Following this payment, Asarco brought a contribution claim under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act against Atlantic Richfield. Finally, in 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Asarco’s remediation expenses of $111.4 million were not eligible for contribution because the costs were not fully incurred. The Ninth Circuit stated that only incurred or concrete, non-speculative future costs can be eligible …

Pakootas V. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd., Connlan W. Whyte

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Throughout the twentieth century, Teck Cominco Metals leaked metal pollutants into the Upper Columbia River that ultimately entered the United States and the Colville Indian Reservation. In 2004, after almost a decade of working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Colville Tribes initiated a citizen suit under CERCLA against Teck for damaging the ecosystem of the Upper Columbia River. In 2018, the Ninth Circuit affirmed judgment against Teck for recovery costs and attorney’s fees.

Fmc Corp. V. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Seth T. Bonilla

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 1998, FMC Corporation agreed to submit to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ permitting processes, including the payment of fees, for clean-up work required as part of consent decree negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, in 2002, FMC refused to pay the Tribes under a permitting agreement entered into by both parties, even though the company continued to store hazardous waste on land within the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. FMC challenged the Tribes’ authority to enforce the $1.5 million permitting fees first in tribal court and later challenged the Tribes’ authority to exercise civil regulatory and adjudicatory jurisdiction over …

Preview—Atlantic Richfield Company V. Christian: The Intersection Of Superfund And State-Law Restoration Claims, Emily M. Mcculloch

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in this matter on Tuesday, December 3, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. in the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Lisa S. Blatt will likely appear for the Petitioner. Joseph R. Palmore will likely appear for the Respondents. Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco will likely argue on behalf of the United States.

California Department Of Toxic Substances Control V. Westside Delivery, Llc, Mitch L. Werbell V

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in California Department of Toxic Substances Control v. Westside Delivery, LLC reminds prospective purchasers of tax-defaulted property of their responsibility for due diligence.The case addressed the reach of the third-party defense to a CERCLA cost recovery action. The court determined that CERCLA’s third-party defense did not apply to a company which purchased a contaminated property at a tax auction because of its “contractual relationship” with the former owner-polluter and because the relevant contaminating acts occurred “in connection with” the prior polluter’s ownership of the site.

Natural Resource Damages: Restitution As A Mechanism To Slow Destruction Of Florida's Natural Resources, James S. Matson, Ph.D., J. Allison Defoor, Ii

Florida State University Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

Cleaning Up Our Toxic Coasts: A Precaution And Human Health-Based Approach To Coastal Adaptation, Robin Kundis Craig

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Hurricanes in the United States in 2005, 2012, and 2017 have all revealed an insidious problem for coastal climate change adaptation: toxic contamination in the coastal zone. As sea levels rise and violent coastal storms become increasingly frequent, this legacy of toxic pollution threatens immediate emergency response, longer term human health, and coastal ecosystems’ capacity to adapt to changing coastal conditions.

Focusing on Hurricane Harvey’s 2017 devastation of Houston, Texas, as its primary example, this Article first discusses the toxic legacy still present in many coastal environments. It then examines the existing laws available to clean up the coastal zone—CERCLA, …

Asarco Llc V. Atlantic Richfield Company, Ryan L. Hickey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabiltiy Act, commonly known as CERCLA, facilitates cleanup of hazardous waste sites and those contaminated by other harmful substances by empowering the Environmental Protection Agency to identify responsible parties and require them to undertake or fund remediation. Because pollution sometimes occurrs over long periods of time by multiple parties, CERCLA also enables polluters to seek financial contribution from other contaminators of a particular site. The Ninth Circuit clarified the particuar circumstances under which contribution actions may arise in Asarco LLC v. Atlantic Richfield Co., holding non-CERCLA settlements may give rise to CERCLA contribution …

Atlantic Richfield Company V. Montana Second Judicial District Court, Molly Kelly

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Landowners in Opportunity, Montana sought restoration damages from ARCO, Anaconda Copper Mining Company’s successor, to their property from over a century of processing ore at the Anaconda Smelter. ARCO argued that CERCLA preempted and barred any claim for restoration damages. The Montana Supreme Court held: landowners could bring their state common law claims seeking restoration damages; the state district court had subject matter jurisdiction; and landowners’ proposed restoration fund did not challenge EPA’s selected remedy under CERCLA.

Eliminating Passive Disposal: Equalizing Liability Among Current And Prior Owners And Operators In The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, And Liability Act Of 1980, Joe Amadon

Utah Law Review

It seems clear, through the 1986 SARA, that Congress did not want innocent parties who conducted due diligence in inspecting the land to be liable under CERCLA. Thus, expanding CERCLA’s definition of disposal to attach liability to passive conduct is inconsistent with Congress’s intent. Therefore, in order to align enforcement of CERCLA with its dual purposes and Congress’s intent in enacting the Act, disposal should be interpreted to exclude passive migration of hazardous substances when the owner or operator knows nothing of the presence of the hazardous substance that is spreading.

Community Involvement In Brownfield Redevelopment Makes Cents: A Study Of Brownfield Redevelopment Initiatives In The United States And Central And Eastern Europe, Anne Marie Pippin

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Revisiting Curd V. Mosaic Fertilizer, Llc. A Perversion Of Private Standing Under Section 376.313 Of Florida’S Pollution Discharge Prevention And Recovery Act, Levi L. Wilkes

Levi L Wilkes

No abstract provided.

Shockwave: Lender Liability Under Cercla After United States V. Fleet Factors Corporation, Nicholas M. Kublicki

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reimbursing Hazardous Waste Cleanup Costs Under Cercla: A Move Toward Re-Establishing A Faithful Application Of State Insurance Law, Gary M. Miller

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Natural Resource Damages Under Cercla: The Emerging Champion Of Environmental Enforcement , Patrick Thomas Michael Iii

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Slides: Development Of Shale: Water Resource Concerns And Policy Considerations, Katy Dunlap

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Katy Dunlap, Eastern Water Project Director, Trout Unlimited, Inc., Burdett, NY

24 slides

Slides: Energy Production And The West's Wild Places, Amy Mall

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Amy Mall, Senior Policy Analyst, Natural Resources Defense Council

28 slides

Some Preliminary Thoughts On Contrasts And Convergence In Environmental And Natural Resources Law, Karin P. Sheldon

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

16 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

Environmental Law, Lisa Spickler Goodwin

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Short Changing Short-Term Risk: A Study Of Superfund Remedy Selection, John S. Applegate, Steven M. Wesloh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Unlike most environmental statutes, CERCLA requires a lengthy period of labor-intensive activity to achieve its clean-up goals. This aspect of the Superfund program does not receive sufficient attention in policy and legal analyses of CERCLA, nor during site-specific remedy selection decision-making. The risks of the remediation period-to workers, to site neighbors, and to the natural environment-are substantial, as this Article illustrates. However, the confusing and sometimes dismissive treatment of remediation risk in the EPA 's detailed guidance for Superfund decision-makers invites the neglect of the short-term effectiveness criterion in the remedy selection process. A study of remedy selection documents in …

Risk Assessment, Redevelopment, And Environmental Justice: Evaluating The Brownfields Bargain, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

How To Save The National Priorities List From The D.C. Circuit -- And Itself, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Setting The Standards: Federal Groundwater Protection Programs, Katharine (Joni) Teter

Uncovering the Hidden Resource: Groundwater Law, Hydrology, and Policy in the 1990s (Summer Conference, June 15-17)

22 pages.

Contains references.

Attorney Fees As Superfund Response Costs, K.K. Duvivier, Carolyn L. Buchholz

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Although other areas of natural resources law have been hit by hard times, the environ- mental area is burgeoning. The intricacies of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com- pensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Super- fund), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), ensure attorney participation. Further- more, much of the fuel that drives CERCIA lit- igation is the presumption by many clients that their attorney fees are costs that can be re- covered as response costs under section 107 of CERCLA. 42 U.S.C. S 9607 (1983). Such an assumption may be a serious and costly …

United States Hazardous Waste Law And Policy, A. Dan Tarlock

New Challenges for Environmental Protection: Second Sino-American Conference on Environmental Law (October 12-13)

3 pages.

Groundwater Quality Protection: Setting A National Goal For State And Federal Programs, David H. Getches

Publications

No abstract provided.

Federal Groundwater Quality Control: Law And Policy, Robert L. Glicksman

Water Quality Control: Integrating Beneficial Use and Environmental Protection (Summer Conference, June 1-3)

56 pages.

Contains references.

Assessment Of Water Quality Progress And Problems In The West, David H. Getches

Water Quality Control: Integrating Beneficial Use and Environmental Protection (Summer Conference, June 1-3)

32 pages.

Contains references.

Hazardous Waste Controls In The United States, 1987, David R. Andrews

Proceedings of the Sino-American Conference on Environmental Law (August 16)

10 pages.

Natural Resources Damage Litigation [Appendix], Michael Donovan

Getting a Handle on Hazardous Waste Control (Summer Conference, June 9-10)

80 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains references and historical notes.

Appendix contains 3 attachments:

1) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, ("CERCLA"), 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq. (1980)

2) National Contingency Plan, 40 C.F.R. Part 440, 50 Fed. Reg. No. 224, Part III (November 20, 1985)

3) Natural Resource Damage Assessments - Proposed Rule, Department of Interior, 43 C.F.R. Part 11, 50 Fed. Reg. No. 245, Part IV (December 20, 1985)