Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/17-1498_8mjp.pdf
Page Number: 22.0

18 

ATLANTIC RICHFIELD CO. v. CHRISTIAN 

Opinion of the Court 

a potentially responsible party in the first instance would
render  the  Act  circular.    Even  the  Government  does  not 
claim  that  its  decisions  whether  to  send  notices  of  settle-
ment negotiations carry such authority.

In short, even if EPA ran afoul of §122(e)(1) by not provid-
ing the landowners notice of settlement negotiations, that
does  not  change  the  landowners’  status  as  potentially
responsible parties.

The  landowners  relatedly  argue  that  the  limitation  in
§122(e)(6)  on  remedial  action  by  potentially  responsible
parties cannot carry the weight we assign to it because it is 
located in the Act’s section on settlement negotiations.  Con-
gress, we are reminded, does not “hide elephants in mouse-
holes.”  Whitman  v.  American  Trucking  Assns.,  Inc.,  531 
U. S. 457, 468 (2001).

We take no issue with characterizing §122(e)(6) as an el-
ephant.  It is, after all, one of the Act’s crucial tools for en-
suring an orderly cleanup of toxic waste.  But §122 of the
Act is, at the risk of the tired metaphor spinning out of con-
trol,  less  a  mousehole  and  more  a  watering  hole—exactly
the sort of place we would expect to find this elephant. 

Settlements  are  the  heart  of  the  Superfund  statute. 
EPA’s efforts to negotiate settlement agreements and issue 
orders  for  cleanups  account  for  approximately  69%  of  all 
cleanup  work  currently  underway.    EPA,  Superfund  Site 
Cleanup  Work  Through  Enforcement  Agreements  and 
Orders,  https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/superfund-site-
cleanup-work-through-enforcement-agreements-and-orders.  
The Act commands EPA to proceed by settlement “[w]hen-
ever  practicable  and  in  the  public  interest  . . .  in  order  to 
expedite  effective  remedial  actions  and  minimize  litiga-
tion.”  42  U. S. C.  §9622(a).    EPA,  for  its  part,  “prefers  to
reach  an  agreement  with  a  potentially  responsible  party
(PRP) to clean up a Superfund site instead of issuing an or-
der or paying for it and recovering the cleanup costs later.” 
EPA, Negotiating Superfund Settlements, https://www.epa.