Opinion ID: 213952
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: City's Response Costs for Well-D

Text: The City likewise did not voluntarily incur response costs operating Well-D. As thoroughly explained by the district court, the City was subject to enforcement under §§ 106 and 107 and resolved its liability to the federal government in administrative and judicially approved settlements, including the 1992 AOC, the 1998 consent decree, the 2004 AOC, and the 2007 consent decree, culminating in the operation of Well-D to remediate contamination in the City's ground water. Analyses of the City's ground water between 1985 and 1995 revealed contamination down gradient of the North Landfill Subsite caused by the release of TCE. Noting the past, present or potential migration of hazardous substances currently located at or emanating from the Subsite, constitutes actual and/or threatened `releases,' the 1992 AOC obligated the City, as a liable party, to perform certain remedial actions at the site. The 1998 consent decree and the 2004 AOC also address the City's liability for migrating TCE. By the City's own account, the 2007 consent decree requires the City to finance and perform the work necessary to implement the specified remedies, including continued operation of the Well-D System to contain the migration of TCE plumes. The City has not operated Well-D voluntarily. The City contends its participation in settlements at the North Landfill Subsite does not preclude a cost-recovery action against Dravo under § 107(a). In support of this assertion, the City cites three cases, W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn. v. Zotos Int'l, Inc., 559 F.3d 85, 91-93 (2d Cir.2009), Kotrous v. Goss-Jewett Co. of N. Cal., Inc., 523 F.3d 924, 934 (9th Cir.2008), and Schaefer v. Town of Victor, 457 F.3d 188, 191-92, 201-02 (2d Cir.2006), each permitting a § 107 action. We agree with the district court that each of the City's cases is distinguishable. Unlike the City, none of the plaintiffs in the cited cases had resolved its § 107 liability, nor entered into administrative or judicially approved settlements within the meaning of § 113(f). See W.R. Grace, 559 F.3d at 91-93; Kotrous, 523 F.3d at 927; Schaefer, 457 F.3d at 191-92. This difference deprives those cases of any persuasive value. The City contends the district court erred in focusing on the remedy, Well-D, rather than Dravo's liability for contamination originating at the Colorado Avenue Subsite, which the City stresses is a separate facility under CERCLA. According to the City, each of the settlements the City entered addressed its liability at the North Landfill Subsite, not the Colorado Avenue Subsite, making the City's construction, operation and maintenance of Well-D to clean up contamination from the Colorado Avenue Subsite voluntary. The City's focus on specific facilities within the Site is entirely too narrow given CERCLA's comprehensive remedial purpose and broad reach. See, e.g., Control Data Corp. v. S.C.S.C. Corp., 53 F.3d 930, 936 (8th Cir.1995). The term facility includes any site or area where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise come[s] to be located. 42 U.S.C. § 9601(9)(B). Under § 107(a), [l]iability is strict and is typically joint and several. United States v. Hercules, Inc., 247 F.3d 706, 715 (8th Cir.2001). [O]nce a party is liable [under § 107(a)], it is liable for its share, as determined by [§ 113(f)], of `any' and all response costs, not just those costs `caused' by its release. Control Data, 53 F.3d at 936. Some of the releases of hazardous substances for which the City and Dravo are liable may have initially originated at different subsites, but both are responsible for the release of TCE into the City's ground water within the Site. Because the TCE contamination from the North Landfill Subsite and the Colorado Avenue Subsite has migrated to the FAR-MAR-CO Subsite, the district court correctly concluded the City must use § 113(f) to allocate responsibility for response costs incurred operating Well-D to remove TCE accumulating there.