Laidlaw Environmental Services (GS), Inc. v. United States

43 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,436, 43 Fed. Cl. 44, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 36, 1999 WL 93489
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedFebruary 24, 1999
DocketNo. 95-302C
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 43 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,436 (Laidlaw Environmental Services (GS), Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laidlaw Environmental Services (GS), Inc. v. United States, 43 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,436, 43 Fed. Cl. 44, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 36, 1999 WL 93489 (uscfc 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

REGINALD W. GIBSON, Senior Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This case involves a government contract for the disposal of waste generated by Army facilities in North Carolina. In dispute is the proper classification for magnesium batteries which determines the price plaintiff, Laidlaw Environmental Services, is paid for disposal. The issues currently before the court arise out of the plaintiffs partial motion for summary judgment and the government’s motion to dismiss, or in the alternative for summary judgment. In its motion to dismiss, the government argues that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Laidlaw’s complaint because the company raises entitlement theories in the complaint in this court that were not presented in its administrative claim to the contracting officer, dated December 21, 1993. On the other hand, the parties’ motions for summary judgment raise the following issues: i) whether the government improperly classified the magnesium batteries to be disposed of pursuant to the contract; ii) whether the government breached and/or changed the contract when it re-classified the magnesium batteries; and iii) whether the government failed to disclose its superior knowledge regarding the change in classification of magnesium batteries.

FACTS

The following facts are undisputed, unless otherwise noted. On April 16, 1992, the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Services (DRMS) of the Department of Defense awarded a contract to plaintiff Laidlaw Environmental Services for the treatment and disposal of various wastes in North Carolina.

Disposal of such hazardous waste is regulated by the federal government under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6933 (as amended). Under authority of the RCRA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified waste that contains five parts per million (ppm) or more of chromium to be hazardous. 40 C.F.R. § 261.24.

The RCRA also allows states to promulgate their own equivalent hazardous waste program as follows:

Any State which seeks to administer and enforce a hazardous waste program pursuant to this subchapter may develop and, after notice and opportunity for public hearing, submit to the Administrator an application, in such form as he shall require, for authorization of such program ____Such State is authorized to car-, ry out such program in lieu of the Federal program under this subchapter in such State and to issue and enforce permits for the storage, treatment, or disposal of hazardous waste____

42 U.S.C. § 6926(b) (emphasis added). To obtain approval, a state program must be “consistent with” the RCRA and other state programs that have received final authorization from the EPA under this Act. 40 C.F.R. § 271.4.

Taking advantage of the RCRA’s provision, allowing state programs to be operated [47]*47“in lieu of’ the federal program, North Carolina applied for and received final authorization for its hazardous waste program in 1984. 49 Fed.Reg. 48,694 (E.P.A.1984). Later revisions to North Carolina’s program were also given final authorization. See, e.g., 51 Fed. Reg. 10,211 (E.P.A.1986), 58 Fed.Reg. 29,460 (E.P.A.1988), 54 Fed.Reg. 6,290 (E.P.A.1989), and 56 Fed.Reg. 1,929 (E.P.A.1991). North Carolina, in devising its hazardous waste program, has incorporated by reference the RCRA’s list of hazardous waste and its criteria for identifying the characteristics of hazardous- waste. 15A N.C. Admin. Code 13A.0106. Consequently, waste that is hazardous under the RCRA is also hazardous under the North Carolina administrative code.

The contract at issue before this court contained the following — a bid schedule setting forth the various wastes to be disposed; the estimated quantity of each invoice of disposable waste; and the unit prices to be paid to Laidlaw for each type of waste. To identify each item or type of waste, the bid schedule used a contract line item number (CLIN). The CLINs involving magnesium batteries are listed in the bid schedule as follows:

Item No. Supplies/Services Unit Price
CLIN 0500 Batteries, Mise. $0.20
CLIN 0502 Batteries, Magnesium (STATE REGULATED) $0.11
CLIN 6102 [blatteries, Magnesium [not regulated] $1.53.

Def.’s Mot. Dismiss App. at 769-773.

Waste with CLIN numbers 0001 through 5999, “Part I” CLINs, are hazardous waste and subject to disposal requirements. CLINs 6000 through 6600, “Part II” CLINs are neither state regulated nor RCRA regulated.1 Thus, the schedule’s clause e.32, entitled “Non-RCRA — State Regulated Waste” provides:

The CLINs listed below [all CLINs greater than 6000] are usually non-RCRA, non State Regulated waste. However, these CLINs may be regulated in certain states. If these items are regulated in the state where they are located, then they will be ordered under the appropriate PART I CLIN (CLINs 0001-5999). If these items are not regulated in the state where they are located, then they will be ordered under the appropriate PART II CLIN (CLINs 6000-6600).

Def.’s Mot. Dismiss App. at 789 (emphasis added). The contract, in clause 31, also offered Laidlaw an option to challenge the classification of a CLIN through “lab analysis and/or other supporting documentation.” Def.’s Mot. Dismiss App. at 789. Reclassification of a CLIN from Part I to Part II, and vice versa, fell under the “Changes” clause of the contract. Id.

Prior to the contract at issue dated April 16, 1992, Laidlaw had a substantially similar contract with the DRMS, dated November 1, 1989, for waste removal and disposal. In several delivery orders issued near the end of performance under this prior contract, the government requested removal of magnesium batteries pursuant to CLIN 0502, used for “state-regulated” magnesium batteries. Several government studies, published in January 1992, were indicating that magnesium batteries might be hazardous under the RCRA because they exceeded the RCRA’s limits for chromium. Laidlaw disputes that neither of the two government tests were readily available to the public or to contractors such as Laidlaw. The company states that it was not aware of one study until 1996 and that DRMS itself did not receive the study until May H, 1992, after the contract at issue was signed. As for the other study, Laidlaw contends that it only became aware of it in May 1992 and did not receive a copy until 1993.

Additionally, Laidlaw commissioned its own tests of magnesium batteries. The first, performed December 12, 1991, by Analytical Industrial Research Laboratory (AIRL), [48]*48found that magnesium batteries contained 19 ppm of chromium; two other studies found that the batteries contained less than 5 ppm of chromium. Laidlaw disputes the findings and significance of the AIRL study finding the batteries to be hazardous.

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43 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,436, 43 Fed. Cl. 44, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 36, 1999 WL 93489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laidlaw-environmental-services-gs-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-1999.