West Virginia Spill Suit Tests Parties' Power To Target State RCRA Decisions

摘要

Local governments in West Virginia are suing disposal companies over waste they say should have been deemed "hazardous" and disposed of in a strictly regulated landfill rather than trucked from the site of the recent chemical spill to a lesser regulated solid waste landfill, a case that one source says could test the extent to which third parties can challenge a state regulatory agency's characterization of the waste. The lawsuit, City of Hurricane, et al. v. Disposal Service, Inc., et al., stems from the January spill of about 10,000 gallons of toxic chemicals from an above-ground tank run by Freedom Industries into West Virginia's Elk River, contaminating Charleston's potable water supply for days and triggering concerns among lawmakers and others over the adequacy of regulations governing above ground chemical storage facilities.