Guam v. United States | |
---|---|
Argued April 26, 2021 Decided May 24, 2021 | |
Full case name | Territory of Guam v. United States |
Docket no. | 20-382 |
Citations | 593 U.S. ___ ( more ) 141 S. Ct. 1608 209 L. Ed. 2d 691 |
Case history | |
Prior | |
Subsequent | Remanded for further proceedings, 852 F. App'x 14 (D.C. Cir. 2021) |
Court membership | |
| |
Case opinion | |
Majority | Thomas, joined by unanimous |
Laws applied | |
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 |
Guam v. United States, 593 U.S. ___ (2021), was a U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with a dispute on fiscal responsibility for environmental and hazardous cleanup of the Ordot Dump created by the United States Navy on the island of Guam in the 1940s, which Guam then ran after becoming a territory in 1950 until the landfill's closure in 2011. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (aka Superfund), Guam had filed its lawsuit to recover a portion of cleanup costs for the landfill from the United States government in a timely manner, allowing their case to proceed.
Guam, an island in the Pacific Ocean, had become a key base for the United States Navy during World War II after the United States regained control of it from Japan in the Battle of Guam in 1944. As part of establishing ports and bases on the island, the Navy created the Ordot Dump landfill for disposal of waste, including material like DDT and Agent Orange. After the war, Guam was made into a U.S. territory by the Guam Organic Act of 1950. Since this gave the island its own governance, the Navy transferred control of the Ordot Dump to Guam that year. The Navy continued to use the landfill until the 1970s, while the landfill was the only solid waste disposal facility for Guam until the 2000s. As the landfill was built without liners or caps, it became an environmental hazard. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the Ordot Dump to the National Priorities List in 1983 and had named the Navy as a potentially responsible party to it in 1988. [1]
In 2002, the EPA filed a complaint against Guam, stating that their management of the Ordot Dump violated the Clean Water Act, as waste contaminants from the dump were found to run off into the nearby Lonfit River and eventually into the Pacific Ocean. A consent decree was achieved in 2004, with Guam agreeing to pay a fine, close the site, and install a cover on the landfill. [2] A separate action initiated by the EPA in 2004 led to the site's forced closure in 2011, [3] and Guam agreeing to remediate affected areas around the landfill. [2] Total costs for completing these, along with other cleanup efforts ordered by the court, were estimated at $160 million. [1]
Guam filed a suit against the United States in 2017 under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA, or Superfund), asserting that since the Navy had been found as a potentially responsible party contributing to the site, the U.S. bears some of the cleanup costs, as outlined in CERCLA Section 107(a). The U.S. moved to close the suit, stating that under the clauses of CERCLA, there was a three-year statute of limitations for filing such complaints under CERCLA Section 113(f)(3)(B), which started with the consent agreement in 2004, and thus Guam had missed its window. [1]
The case was first heard in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2018. The District Court ruled to allow the case to proceed in favor of Guam in September 2018. [4] Judge Ketanji Jackson ruled that the consent decree did not involve liability for the environmental cleanup, nor involved the ability of Guam to seek liability response actions under CERCLA. [2] The government appealed to the District of Columbia Circuit, which reversed the District Court's decision in March 2020 and agreed that the statute of limitations for Guam had expired in 2007, three years after the 2004 consent agreement, as set by Section 113(f)(3)(B). [5] [1]
Guam petitioned their case to the Supreme Court, asking them to resolve the question of whether Section 113(f)(3)(B)'s three-year statute applied to the consent agreement they had made with the EPA. The Court granted certiorari to the case in January 2021, [6] with oral arguments heard on April 26, 2021. [7]
The Court issued its decision on May 24, 2021, reversing the D.C. Circuit Court's ruling and remanding the case for further review. In the unanimous opinion, the court ruled that Section 113(f)(3)(B) did not apply to the consent agreement that Guam had made with the EPA, and thus the three-year statute of limitations from Section 113(f)(3)(B) did not apply; as such, Guam had the ability to pursue action against the government as allotted by Section 107(a). Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion, focusing on the statutory interpretation of CERCLA. The court held that, despite possible "functional overlap", the government taking "remedial measures ... under another environmental statue" does not necessarily settle its liability under CERCLA. [8]
The decision has a potential impact on a number of pending lawsuits filed by states and local entities against the U.S. government and large companies to try to seek some recovery for the costs for cleanup of Superfund sites, as these suits had followed similar patterns of interaction between Guam and the EPA. [1]
Hazardous waste is waste that must be handled properly to avoid damaging human health or the environment. Waste can be hazardous because it is toxic, reacts violently with other chemicals, or is corrosive, among other traits. As of 2022, humanity produces 300-500 million metric tons of hazardous waste annually. Some common examples are electronics, batteries, and paints. An important aspect of managing hazardous waste is safe disposal. Hazardous waste can be stored in hazardous waste landfills, burned, or recycled into something new. Managing hazardous waste is important to achieve worldwide sustainability. Hazardous waste is regulated on national scale by national governments as well as on an international scale by the United Nations (UN) and international treaties.
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The program is designed to investigate and clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as Superfund sites. Of all the sites selected for possible action under this program, 1178 remain on the National Priorities List (NPL) that makes them eligible for cleanup under the Superfund program. Sites on the NPL are considered the most highly contaminated and undergo longer-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanups). The state of New Jersey, the fifth smallest state in the U.S., is the location of about ten percent of the priority Superfund sites, a disproportionate amount.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.
The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 11, 2002. Brownfields are defined as, "A former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination." The Brownfields Law amended the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act by providing funds to assess and clean up brownfields, clarifying CERCLA liability protections, and providing funds to enhance state and tribal response programs. Other related laws and regulations impact brownfields cleanup and reuse through financial incentives and regulatory requirements.
The National Priorities List (NPL) is the priority list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanup) financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations outline a formal process for assessing hazardous waste sites and placing them on the NPL. The NPL is intended primarily to guide EPA in determining which sites are so contaminated as to warrant further investigation and significant cleanup.
Environmental crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. These illegal activities involve the environment, wildlife, biodiversity and natural resources. International bodies such as, G7, Interpol, European Union, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, have recognized the following environmental crimes:
United States v. Bestfoods, 524 U.S. 51 (1998), is a United States corporate law and environmental law case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the indirect liability of a parent corporation under CERCLA is to be determined by its control over a subsidiary's facility, rather than the relationship between the corporation and subsidiary.
Chalan Pago-Ordot is a village in the United States territory of Guam, containing the communities of Chalan Pago and Ordot. It is located in the eastern-central part of the island and is part of the Kattan (Eastern) District. The village's population has increased slightly since the island's 2010 census.
There are many exemptions for fracking under United States federal law: the oil and gas industries are exempt or excluded from certain sections of a number of the major federal environmental laws. These laws range from protecting clean water and air, to preventing the release of toxic substances and chemicals into the environment: the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund.
Shpack Landfill is a hazardous waste site in Norton, Massachusetts. After assessment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it was added to the National Priorities List in October 1986 for long-term remedial action. The site cleanup is directed by the federal Superfund program. The Superfund site covers 9.4 acres, mostly within Norton, with 3.4 acres in the adjoining city of Attleboro. The Norton site was operated as a landfill dump accepting domestic and industrial wastes, including low-level radioactive waste, between 1946 and 1965. The source of most of the radioactive waste, consisting of uranium and radium, was Metals and Controls Inc. which made enriched uranium fuel elements for the U.S. Navy under contract with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Metals and Controls merged with Texas Instruments in 1959. The Shpack landfill operation was shut down by a court order in 1965.
Ordot Dump, also known as Ordot Landfill, was a landfill on the western Pacific island of Guam that operated from the 1940s until 2011. Originally operated by the U.S. military, ownership was transferred to the Government of Guam in 1950, though it continued to receive all waste on the island, including from Naval Base Guam and Andersen Air Force Base, through the 1970s.
(: