RCRA Settlement May Boost Waste Law Suits Despite Averting Precedent

摘要

A proposed settlement between environmentalists and Washington state dairy farms subjecting manure to Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) solid waste mandates is part of a "mosaic" of law that could boost suits seeking to apply RCRA to manure, sources say, despite the pact averting any precedential court ruling on the issue. Advocates and industry on May 11 proposed the consent decree to settle three linked suits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. In that litigation, Judge Thomas Rice in a Jan. 14 ruling had already sided with the environmental groups Community Association for Restoration of the Environment (CARE) and the Center for Food Safety (CFS) on the crucial question of whether the dairy farms should be liable under RCRA for groundwater contamination from stored and land-applied manure - even though Congress largely exempts manure from regulation. Seepage 2 for details. (Doc. ID: 181337) Rice's decision meant the case would then move to the stage of deciding damages, but the dairy farms sought to have the liability question appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit before the district court case could proceed any further. Rice however rejected this bid and pushed ahead with the district case.