Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/17-1498_8mjp.pdf
Page Number: 11

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

argument that §113 stripped the Montana courts of juris-
diction over the landowners’ claim for restoration damages. 
The court recognized that §113 strips federal courts (and, it
was willing to assume, state courts) of jurisdiction to review 
challenges  to  EPA  cleanup  plans.    But  the  Montana  Su-
preme  Court  reasoned  that  the  landowners’  plan  was  not 
such  a  challenge  because  it  would  not  “stop,  delay,  or 
change the work EPA is doing.”  Id., at 83, 408 P. 3d, at 520. 
The landowners were “simply asking to be allowed to pre-
sent their own plan to restore their own private property to 
a jury of twelve Montanans who will then assess the merits 
of that plan.”  Id., at 84, 408 P. 3d, at 521. 

The Montana Supreme Court also rejected Atlantic Rich-
field’s  argument  that  the  landowners  were  potentially  re-
sponsible parties (sometimes called PRPs) prohibited from
taking  remedial  action  without  EPA  approval  under 
§122(e)(6) of the Act.  The Court observed that the landown-
ers had “never been treated as PRPs for any purpose—by 
either EPA or [Atlantic Richfield]—during the entire thirty-
plus years” since the designation of the Superfund site, and 
that the statute of limitations for a claim against the land-
owners had run.  Id., at 86, 408 P. 3d, at 522.  “Put simply,
the PRP horse left the barn decades ago.”  Ibid. 

Justice Baker concurred, stressing that on remand Atlan-
tic Richfield could potentially defeat the request for resto-
ration damages on the merits by proving that the restora-
tion plan conflicted with EPA’s cleanup plan.  Id., at 87–90, 
408 P. 3d, at 523–525.  Justice McKinnon dissented.  She 
argued  that  the  landowners’  restoration  plan  did  conflict
with  the  Superfund  cleanup  and  thus  constituted  a  chal-
lenge under §113(h) of the Act, over which Montana courts
lacked jurisdiction.  Id., at 90–101, 408 P. 3d, at 525–532. 

We granted certiorari.  587 U. S. ___ (2019). 

We  begin  with  two  threshold  questions:  whether  this 

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