Opinion ID: 159591
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Contribution Allocation

Text: 16 CERCLA authorizes a district court to allocate CERCLA response costs among the liable parties using any equitable factors it deems appropriate. 42 U.S.C. 9613(f). See also FMC Corp. v. Aero Indus., Inc., 998 F.2d 842, 846 (10th Cir. 1993). We review the district court's contribution allocation for abuse of discretion. FMC Corp., 998 F.2d at 847. 17 Koch complains the district court erred by allocating remediation costs based solely on Koch's relative duration of Refinery ownership during the thirty-seven-year period between 1946 and 1983. Rather than allocate Koch a fifteen percent share based on proportionate ownership, Koch argues the district court should have based Koch's fair share on the relative productive capability of each responsible party and the alleged fact Koch disposed of much of its Refinery waste off-site. Other equitable factors Koch claims the district court failed to consider when making its allocation determination include the total number of potentially responsible parties, the relative acreage controlled by each party (Koch operated on only 160 acres), and the fact that during a portion of Koch's ownership, Sun actually operated the Refinery under lease from Koch. In the end, Koch claims it should be responsible for no more than 1.5% of the total response costs. 18 In balancing the equities in light of the totality of the circumstances, see FMC Corp., 998 F.2d at 847, the district court first determined the pollution caused by the various Refinery owners and operators has commingled and cannot be separated. The court then found Koch operated waste areas in eleven out of thirty, or thirty-seven percent, of the identified solid waste management areas at the Refinery. The court noted that waste disposal practices improved in the years subsequent to Koch's ownership and operation of the Refinery, and found it more probable than not there was a greater infiltration of contaminants into soils during Koch's operation and ownership than during subsequent years equitable factors weighing against Koch. Finally, the court cited the absence of any evidence that the amount of waste disposed to the environment was substantially different during Koch's ownership, a period of seven years (or fifteen percent of the Refinery's operational life). Record evidence exists to support each of these findings, which placed Koch's fair share in the range of fifteen to thirty-seven percent. Accordingly, we cannot say the court abused its discretion by rejecting Koch's proposed 1.5% allocation, and instead allocating fifteen percent of the total response costs to Koch.