Opinion ID: 728910
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: EPA Designation

Text: 43 The trial judge implied, in a few cases, that the EPA's decision not to designate a party as a potentially responsible party is relevant in determining CERCLA liability. See, e.g., Murtha III, 840 F.Supp. at 184 ([Appellee] was not designated as a PRP by the EPA.). In Murtha I, 958 F.2d at 1205, we concluded that EPA policy merely indicates that the EPA presently does not intend to pursue enforcement actions against unnamed parties. However, here the district court weighed the plaintiffs' evidence of liability against the backdrop of the EPA Municipal Policy that a [party] would not be charged as a PRP absent evidence that its waste deposited at the site in question contained specific [hazardous substances]. Murtha III, 840 F.Supp. at 188. 44 EPA enforcement decisions are not helpful in deciding whether a party is properly joined as a defendant in a given action. See Murtha I, 958 F.2d at 1205 (explaining that EPA prosecutes only largest contributors or those with the means to pay, leaving those defendants to seek contribution from other potentially liable polluters). This is consistent with the general understanding that [a]n agency generally cannot act against each technical violation of the statute it is charged with enforcing. Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 831, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 1656, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985). Congress has explicitly authorized private rights of action independent of EPA enforcement decisions. For these reasons, the agency's decision not to initiate its own enforcement action is irrelevant in determining whether a defendant might be liable under CERCLA. 45 Appellees maintain that no decision was made in any case in exclusive reliance on the EPA policy, and that the court's reference to that policy was merely illustrative. It is difficult to see what the EPA policy illustrated, as we have ruled that the policy is legally irrelevant when determining CERCLA liability. To the extent the district court relied upon an EPA designation in deciding whether to grant summary judgment, it committed error.