The NAM joined other groups 12/27/06 in an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear an appeal by DuPont involving the costs of cleaning up contaminated Superfund sites. The right to collect a fair share of the cleanup costs from other parties, including governments, who are responsible for contributing to the hazardous wastes in Superfund sites, is critically important to manufacturers and to the cleanup process. Our brief urges the Court to review a Third Circuit decision that denied the right of a manufacturer to seek contributions from other parties that helped create the problem.
We argue that CERCLA, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, was enacted to facilitate prompt and effective cleanup of contaminated sites, and a right of contribution is integral to achieving this goal. The Third Circuit's decision will impede the national effort to clean up sites, will unfairly burden a few private parties, and will discourage or delay the redevelopment of many of our nation's cities. The court's decision is also in direct conflict with decisions by unanimous panels of the Second and Eighth Circuits.
The brief describes four important categories of cleanups that will be discouraged and/or delayed by the Third Circuit's ruling: (1) thousands of sites polluted by the federal government, (2) thousands of sites subject to corrective action under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), (3) Superfund sites, and (4) thousands of brownfields sites whose only realistic potential for cleanup is voluntary action by responsible parties.
The NAM joined with the Superfund Settlements Project, the American Chemistry Council, the American Petroleum Institute and the United States Conference of Mayors in the brief.
On 6/18/07, the Court granted the petition, vacated the lower court's decision and sent the case back for reconsideration in light of its recent decision in United States v. Atlantic Research Corp. The lower court is expected to rule in favor of Dupont.