Consolidation Coal Co. v. Georgia Power Co.

781 F.3d 129, 2015 WL 1289755
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedMarch 20, 2015
DocketNos. 13-1603, 13-1617, 13-1664, 13-1666
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 781 F.3d 129 (Consolidation Coal Co. v. Georgia Power Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Consolidation Coal Co. v. Georgia Power Co., 781 F.3d 129, 2015 WL 1289755 (4th Cir. 2015).

Opinions

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge AGEE wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge SHEDD joined. Judge WYNN wrote a dissenting opinion.

AGEE, Circuit Judge:

In the early 1980s, Georgia Power, a utility company that supplies power to most of Georgia, sold many of its used electrical transformers at auction to Ward Transformer Company (“Ward”). These electrical transformers contained insulating oil, and some of that oil contained polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”), toxic compounds that have been banned since 1979. Ward repaired and rebuilt used transformers, including those it purchased from Georgia Power, for resale to meet third-party customers’ specifications. In the process, Ward’s Raleigh, North Carolina, facility (the ‘Ward Site”) became contaminated with PCBs.

In the mid-2000s, the EPA added the Ward Site to its National Priorities List and initiated a costly removal action. Consolidated Coal Company (“Consol”) and PCS Phosphate Company, Inc. (“PCS”) have borne much of that removal cost. They filed a complaint under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) against Georgia Power, contending that, as supplier of some of the transformers to Ward, it should be liable for a contribution to those costs. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Georgia Power. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. Background

A. CERCLA

In 1980, Congress enacted CERCLA in response to the environmental and health risks posed by industrial pollution. Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. United States, 556 U.S. 599, 602, 129 S.Ct. 1870, 173 L.Ed.2d 812 (2009). “The Act was designed to promote the ‘timely cleanup of hazardous waste sites’ and to ensure that the costs of such cleanup efforts were borne by those responsible for the contamination.” Id. (quoting Consol. Edison Co. of N.Y. v. UGI Util., Inc., 423 F.3d 90, 94 (2d Cir.2005)).

CERCLA imposes liability upon four broad categories of “potentially responsible parties” (“PRPs”). Id. at 605, 608. Briefly stated, these categories are (1) owners and operators of a vessel or facility, (2) any person who owned or operated a facility at the time a hazardous substance is disposed, (3) those persons who arrange for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances, and (4) those who accept hazardous substances for transport to disposal or treatment facilities. 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a). The case before us involves the third liability category, often termed the arranger provision, which imposes liability on

any person who by contract, agreement, or otherwise arranged for disposal or treatment ... of hazardous substances owned or possessed by such person, by any other party or entity, at any facility or incineration vessel owned or operated by another party or entity and containing such hazardous substances.

Id. § 9607(a)(3) (emphasis added). IfPRP status is established, a party faces liability under CERCLA for “all costs of removal or remedial action incurred by the United States Government or a State” as well as “any other necessary costs of response incurred by any other person consistent with the national contingency plan.” Id. § 9607(a)(4). CERCLA permits a PRP to “seek contribution from any other person [144]*144who is liable or potentially liable under section 9607(a).” Id. § 9613(f)(1).1

B. The Ward Site

Ward operated a business in which it purchased used, obsolete, or damaged electrical transformers and reconditioned or repaired them for resale. These types of transformers “step down” the voltage of electricity as it moves from power plants to end users. The particular type of electrical transformer at issue here typically contains an enclosed, vacuum-sealed external tank, an internal iron core, and coils consisting of copper or aluminum windings wrapped in cellulose insulation that tightly surround the core. These internal parts must be immersed in oil to work properly, and often the insulating oil contained PCBs.

Ward left some of the transformers it purchased on an outside lot. When Ward received an order, it would then select a transformer from the lot and recondition or rebuild it to the customer’s specifíea--tions. This process ranged from cleaning, testing and painting a transformer, to rebuilding it entirely by draining any remaining oil and removing the inner components by crane to perform work on the core and coils.

Given the sometimes significant work Ward performed on transformers, some oil spills occurred at the Ward Site.2 Because of PCB contamination, the EPA added the Ward Site to its National Priorities List. In 2004 the EPA formally initiated a time-critical removal action, during which workers have removed over 400,000 tons of contaminated soil.

C. The Georgia Power Transformers

When Georgia Power ceased using transformers, it sent them to its own repair facility. There, 'Georgia Power inspected each used transformer and designated it either for repair and reuse within the company or for disposal in a commercially reasonable manner. A 1974 Georgia Power bulletin provided procedures “for disposing of surplus, obsolete or damaged distribution line transformers.” (J.A. 1329.) The bulletin refers to the disposition of retired transformers as “scrapping,” but clarifies that scrapped transformers are “actually sold.” (Id. at 1331 (providing, instructions for “[w]hen transformers are scrapped, (actually sold)”).) The “Scrapping Procedure” instructs Georgia Power employees to “conclude the disposal of the transformers to the best advantage of the company.” (Id.)

Because PCBs are regulated by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (“TSCA”), Georgia Power had to adjust procedures after the passage of that Act. Georgia Power began testing surplus transformers for PCB concentration, with the resulting concentration dictating what course Georgia Power pursued with regard to a transformer. The TSCA prohibited Georgia Power from selling transformers with PCB concentrations at 50 parts per [145]*145million (“ppm”) or more for continued use or rebuilding. Georgia Power therefore sent those transformers to TSCA-licensed smelters. Transformers with less than 50 ppm were either repaired for reuse by the company or- sold at auction.

Georgia Power transferred the transformers designated for sale to its Salvage Department, also known as the Investment Recovery department. Before sale, Georgia Power usually removed the free-flowing oil from the transformers through a double-pumping procedure. This process removed all oil from the transformers except a thin sheen coating the inside of the transformers and the cores and coils.3

Moisture from the atmosphere can cause damage to the internal components of an exposed transformer lacking oil. “[M]ois-ture [to a transformer] is basically like cancer to a person.” (Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
781 F.3d 129, 2015 WL 1289755, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/consolidation-coal-co-v-georgia-power-co-ca4-2015.