Citizens Ask High Court To Reject Review Of CERCLA State Damages Case

摘要

Citizens who have been given the go-ahead to bring state damages claims that would supplement an EPA cleanup remedy are asking the Supreme Court to deny an industry petition to overturn a Montana high court ruling that found the Superfund pre-enforcement bar on cleanup remedies does not apply to state damages claims, even if such claims would require a stricter cleanup.In a July 2 response filed with the Supreme Court in Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) v. Gregory A. Christian, et al., the citizens say ARCO's April 27 petition for a writ of certiorari "should be denied for any number of reasons." The response is available on InsideEPA.com. (Doc. ID: 213210)The most salient of these reasons is the federal high court "lacks jurisidiction over the state court's interlocutory decision," the respondents say. The Supreme Court "may review only final state-court decisions." They add that the Montana high court remanded the case for trial on the landowners' claims - which is scheduled for October.