The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a petition for writ of certiorari to review questions
regarding clean-up activities required by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (“EPA”) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (“CERCLA”). Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian,
No. 17-1498. In the suit, Atlantic
Richfield seeks to overturn a decision by the Montana Supreme Court which
allows private landowners to challenge the EPA’s cleanup plan at one of the
nation’s largest Superfund sites.
The issues presented are: (1) whether a common-law claim for
restoration seeking cleanup remedies that conflict with remedies the EPA
ordered is a jurisdictionally barred challenge to the EPA’s cleanup under
CERCLA; (2) whether a landowner at a Superfund site is a “potentially
responsible party” that must seek EPA approval under CERCLA before engaging in
remedial action, even if the EPA never ordered the landowner to pay for a
cleanup; and (3) whether CERCLA pre-empts state common-law claims for
restoration that seek cleanup remedies that conflict with EPA-ordered remedies.
To ensure that the
EPA can clean a site effectively, CERCLA contains various provisions that block
states or private parties from interfering with an EPA-directed site cleanup
plan. The lower court’s ruling allows landowners to seek money for a cleanup
plan that arguably conflicts with the EPA-directed cleanup of Montana’s
Anaconda Smelter Superfund site.
