United States v. Western Processing Co.

761 F. Supp. 725, 21 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 21089, 33 ERC (BNA) 1385, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4308
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedApril 3, 1991
DocketNos. C89-214M, C83-252M and C89-224M
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 761 F. Supp. 725 (United States v. Western Processing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Western Processing Co., 761 F. Supp. 725, 21 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 21089, 33 ERC (BNA) 1385, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4308 (W.D. Wash. 1991).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING SECOND MOTION OF UNITED STATES FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DISMISSING IN PART RSR’s FIRST AND SEVENTH COUNTERCLAIMS

McGOVERN, District Judge.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This Court previously disposed of RSR Corporation’s (RSR) Second through Sixth and Eighth Counterclaims concerning indemnification and injunctive relief.

The First and Seventh Counterclaims survive that order and seek contribution from the United States and a declaration of RSR’s entitlement to such relief based in part upon the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) conduct concerning the Western Processing Site prior to the Agency’s emergency removal action there in 1983.

The United States seeks partial dismissal of these counterclaims based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction or failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Alternatively, the United States seeks summary judgment against RSR on these counterclaims to the extent that they depend on averments that EPA “directed and advised several generators and transporters to ship their wastes to Western Processing.” (RSR counterclaim 11 67.)

Defendant/counterclaimant Union Oil Company of California (Unocal), Third-Party Plaintiffs GATX Tank Storage Terminals Corp. (GATX) and Northwest Enviro-Service, Inc. (Northwest EnviroService) have asserted similar EPA-based claims against the United States. These parties (referred to collectively as Unocal), therefore, submitted a substantial memorandum in support of RSR’s position in order to protect their own interests. RSR submitted a brief memorandum with supporting material adopting Unocal’s memorandum by reference.

II. RSR’S/UNOCAL’S ALLEGATIONS

RSR makes three separate allegations concerning the EPA; Unocal, GATX, and Northwest EnviroService have made similar claims.

A. RSR claims that Western Processing, by November 19, 1980, had to obtain “interim status” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, 42 U.S.C. § 6925(e)) and meet certain performance standards. The U.S. admitted that the “interim status” performance standards designated Western Processing as a treatment and storage facility, not a waste disposal facility. (U.S. memo at 4, n. 8.) Despite this designation, EPA had direct knowledge that after November 19, 1980, Western Processing operated in violation of the interim status standards but was permitted to operate until April 1983.

B. RSR also claims that “[d]espite having direct knowledge, after November 19, 1980, that Western Processing was not in compliance with RCRA and of Western Processing’s treatment^] storage and disposal practices, EPA ... repeatedly directed and advised several generators and transporters to ship their wastes to Western Processing.”

C. RSR claims that when EPA closed the site and undertook to stabilize it and conduct a preliminary cleanup, the EPA “acted recklessly, willfully and negligently, therefore causing significant contamination of the Western Processing site ...,” and making the cost of cleanup significantly greater than it otherwise would have been.

RSR and Unocal note that the U.S. motion for dismissal is based only on the allegations of action or inaction of the EPA. Claims that the United States acted as a site operator and generator of waste remain, as do claims that the United States misrepresented Boeing’s potential “fair share” to the detriment of RSR and Unocal [728]*728during the- negotiations preceding the Phase II Consent Decree. Also, the present motion cannot exclude evidence of the EPA’s action or inaction to the extent said activities were inconsistent with the National Contingency Plan.

III. APPLICABLE STATUTES IN BRIEF

Pertinent parts of the regularly referenced statutes herein are briefly described for convenience as follows:

A. CERCLA § 107 (42 U.S.C. § 9607): Classes of potentially responsible parties: owner, operator, transporter, or generator.

B. CERCLA § 113 (42 U.S.C. § 9613): Any person may seek contribution from any other person.

C. CERCLA § 120 (42 U.S.C. § 9620): Federal Government to be treated as any other private party, including liability under Section 107.

IV. UNITED STATES’ MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The arguments of the United States and the opposition of RSR and Unocal are summarized under the following subheadings. Following the summaries under each subheading is the Court’s analysis and conclusion.

A. Sovereign Immunity.

The United States argues that it has not waived its sovereign immunity with respect to the contribution claims asserted by RSR based on EPA's regulatory activities. Such waivers must be unequivocally expressed, United. States v. Mitchell, 445 U.S. 535, 538, 100 S.Ct. 1349, 1351-52, 63 L.Ed.2d 607 (1980) and should be strictly construed in favor of the United States. Library of Congress v. Shaw, 478 U.S. 310, 318, 106 S.Ct. 2957, 2963, 92 L.Ed.2d 250 (1986). There is no question, argues the U.S., that Congress expected government agencies to shoulder their proportionate share of CERCLA response costs when they have acted as owners, operators, generators or transporters:

Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the United States ... shall be subject to, and comply with, this chapter in the same manner and to the same extent ... as any nongovernmental entity, including liability under section 9607 of this title.

CERCLA Section 120(a) (42 U.S.C. § 9620(a)). This does not mean, however, argues the U.S., that Congress intended EPA regulatory and clean-up activities to give rise to such contribution liability. If EPA’s clean-up activities could give rise to CERCLA liability, this would violate the fundamental principle that “those who benefit financially from a commercial activity [should] internalize the health and environmental costs of that activity into the costs of doing business.” S.Rep. No. 848, 96th Cong., 2d Sess. 13 (1980), reprinted in 1 Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, A Legislative History of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 320 (1983). Only if RSR and Unocal can establish that the EPA’s clean-up conduct was inconsistent with the National Contingency Plan (a point not conceded), could the amount the Governments are otherwise entitled to recover be reduced to account for the inconsistency.

Reading CERCLA Section 120(a) as a waiver of sovereign immunity for the EPA in carrying out its duties is unwarranted and directly contrary to the strict construction in the Government’s favor on sovereign immunity issues. In United States v. Hardage, No. CIV-86-1401-P (W.D.Okla.

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Related

United States v. Western Processing Co., Inc.
761 F. Supp. 725 (W.D. Washington, 1991)

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761 F. Supp. 725, 21 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 21089, 33 ERC (BNA) 1385, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-western-processing-co-wawd-1991.