Opinion ID: 3066064
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Maryland Square is Liable to the State under

Text: Nevada Law Because It Owned the Property and Failed to Remove the Contaminated Soil Pursuant to Nevada law, Nevada has established an account from which it may spend money to respond to a hazardous spill, manage the clean up of a contaminated site, and remove the hazardous substance. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 459.537. Under the statute, money from the “Account for the Management of Hazardous Waste” may be spent to pay the costs of responding to a leak or spill if the person responsible did not promptly clean it up. Id. Once this money has been spent, the statute instructs NDEP to demand reimbursement from various people, including “any person . . . who owns or controls . . . the area used for the disposal of the waste, material or substance.” Id. This must include the current owner. Maryland Square, as the current owner, tries to maintain it is not responsible under the statute because it did not own the Site at the time of the PCE disposal. However, the state statute contains no exceptions, nor does it limit the reimbursement obligation to those responsible for the spill. Maryland Square also challenges the grant of injunctive relief under Nevada Revised Statutes § 445A.695, on the ground that it was not responsible for any discharges of PCE. Under this statute, NDEP may seek an injunction “to prevent the continuance or occurrence of any act or practice which violates any provision of NRS 445A.300 to 445A.730 . . . .” Id. NDEP contends that Maryland Square violated Nev. Rev. Stat. § 445A.465, a state statute that encompasses not only discharges, but also the failure to clean up a spilled contaminant that may enter the State’s waters. The statute 30 VOGGENTHALER V. MARYLAND SQUARE makes it unlawful to “[a]llow a pollutant discharged from a point source or fluids injected through a well to remain in a place where the pollutant or fluids could be carried into the waters of the State by any means.” Nev. Rev. Stat. § 445A.465(1)(d). Maryland Square allowed PCE to remain in the soil for six years, and the PCE did enter the waters of the State. The district court, therefore, correctly granted summary judgment on NDEP’s claim for injunctive relief as well.