Landowners Fiqht ARCO's Hiqh Court Bid For Expansive Read Of CERCLA

摘要

Residential property owners in Montana are asking the Supreme Court to dismiss a suit seeking to overturn a Montana high court ruling that found the Superfund law's bar on judicial review of ongoing cleanup remedies does not extend to state damages claims, arguing the high court lacks jurisdiction and should reject attempts to rewrite and expand the law. The property owners, who live adjacent to a former copper smelter owned by Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), are seeking damages that would result in a stricter cleanup than what EPA approved at the Anaconda Smelter Superfund site, MT. The residents in an Oct. 15 response brief in ARCO v. Gregory Christian, et al. argue the company misinterprets the reach of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund law. "In ARCO's telling, CERCLA was a federal power grab: Congress anointed EPA the supreme authority for all land-use decisions affecting anyone unlucky enough to live in a hazardous-waste site," the residents say.