Clean Harbors Servs., Inc. v. Ill. Int'l

309 F. Supp. 3d 556
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 15, 2018
DocketNo. 12–CV–7837
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 309 F. Supp. 3d 556 (Clean Harbors Servs., Inc. v. Ill. Int'l) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clean Harbors Servs., Inc. v. Ill. Int'l, 309 F. Supp. 3d 556 (illinoised 2018).

Opinion

Honorable Thomas M. Durkin, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Clean Harbors Services, Inc. ("Clean Harbors") brought this action against Defendant The Illinois International Port District ("Port District") asserting claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9607, 9613, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"), 42 U.S.C. § 6972, and state law. Presently before the Court is the Port District's Motion to Dismiss Counts II, III, and VIII of Clean Harbors' Third Amended Complaint. For the reasons explained below, the Port District's motion is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND1

This case involves contaminated property located at 11700 and 11800 South Stony Island in Chicago, Illinois (the "property"). R. 108 ¶ 1. The Port District has owned the property since 1955. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Port District began to construct piers on the property with fill materials consisting of industrial waste, construction debris, natural material, and a mixture of soil, steel industry wastes, and pea-sized gravel. Id. ¶¶ 27, 30, 31. Also in the 1970s, the Port District leased the property to a now-dissolved company, Hyon Waste Management Services, Inc. Id. ¶ 36. Hyon Waste operated a series of surface impoundments *560at the property for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes and disposed of tens of millions of gallons of waste. Clean Harbors alleges that the Port District, as the owner of the property, knew or reasonably should have known of Hyon Waste's contamination but did nothing to abate the contamination or hold Hyon Waste accountable for the contamination. Id. ¶ 51.

Beginning in the 1980s, the Port District leased the property to two different companies, ChemClear, Inc. and CMW Chemical Services, Inc., both of which Clean Harbors later acquired. (Throughout this Order, the Court refers to Clean Harbors and these companies collectively as "Clean Harbors.") Clean Harbors operated a waste processing facility at the property that processed hazardous wastes for disposal or recycling at offsite locations. Clean Harbors and the Port District are co-permittees on permits issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency ("IEPA"). One such permit is a RCRA Part B permit, which was originally issued on November 4, 2005 and expired on December 9, 2015 (the "Permit"). The IEPA renewed the Permit effective September 6, 2017. R. 108 ¶ 197.

The IEPA eventually directed the Port District and Clean Harbors to conduct a RCRA facility investigation of the property. The parties performed the investigation and discovered contamination primarily related to Hyon Waste's operations in the 1970s. R. 108 ¶¶ 89-99. Clean Harbors incurred substantial costs to conduct the investigation. Id. ¶ 150. The Port District and Clean Harbors subsequently worked with the IEPA to develop a corrective action plan to address the contamination (known as the "Cap and Drain Plan"). IEPA gave its final approval for the plan in 2011. Id. ¶ 123. The IEPA's plan required that an existing cover at the property remain in place as an engineered barrier, required the construction of a french drain, and required future groundwater monitoring at the property. The Plan is projected to cost $5.75 million in construction costs and an additional $ 2.15 million in monitoring costs. Id. ¶ 151.

In 2012, Clean Harbors provided notice of its intent to terminate its leases on the property and identified issues related to the Cap and Drain Plan that needed to be resolved as part of its winding down of operations at the property. R. 108 ¶¶ 130-131. Two weeks after Clean Harbors gave notice of its intent to terminate the leases, the Port District wrote to the IEPA stating it had not approved the Cap and Drain Plan. Id. ¶ 135. Later in 2012, the Port District demanded that Clean Harbors remove the engineered barrier discussed in the Plan, demanded it construct a truck yard on the property, and refused to grant it access to the property to remove certain improvements. Id. ¶ 140-42. The Port District also refused to complete forms required to wind down Clean Harbors' operations properly with the IEPA. Id. ¶ 146. Finally, Clean Harbors alleges the Port District overcharged it quarterly rent payments from 2010 through 2012 totaling $315,000. Id. ¶ 78.

On February 19, 2013, Clean Harbors provided written notice to the Port District, the IEPA, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") of its intent to file a RCRA citizen suit against the Port District pursuant to 42 U.S.C.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
309 F. Supp. 3d 556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clean-harbors-servs-inc-v-ill-intl-illinoised-2018.