Opinion ID: 2028080
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Liability of Appellants for Cleanup Costs.

Text: We first consider an issue common to all three appellants. That issue is whether the language in Iowa Code section 455B.392 (1989) limits the liability for cleanup costs by a polluter to the extent of the hazardous condition caused by that person. Section 455B.392 is a statute directed at situations in which the state has incurred a cleanup expense and is attempting to recoup that expense from those persons responsible for the pollution. The statute reads: A person having control over a hazardous substance is strictly liable to the state for all of the following: a. The reasonable cleanup costs incurred by the state as a result of the failure of the person to clean up a hazardous substance involved in a hazardous condition caused by that person. Iowa Code § 455B.392(1)(a) (emphasis added). The agency urges that section 455B.392(1)(a) is not applicable in the present case because (1) it only applies to situations in which the state is seeking to recoup cleanup costs already incurred, and (2) it only affects agency action taken under Part 4 of Division IV of chapter 455B dealing with hazardous substances. It argues that its action in the present case is based upon section 455B.186 (located in Part 1 of Division III dealing with water quality) and thus subject to administrative sanctions specified in section 455B.175 without regard to any limitation found in section 455B.392(1)(a). We are not persuaded that the language of section 455B.392(1)(a) does not set forth the legislative policy governing liability for cleanup costs regardless of whether the sanction is for recoupment or to compel payment of such costs in the first instance. It would seem unlikely that the legislature intended different policies to apply in the two situations. Diesel fuel is a hazardous substance as defined in section 455B.381(1), located in Part 4 of Division IV of the chapter. Hazardous conditions for which sanctions may be imposed under Part 4 include release or spillage of hazardous substances onto the land or into a water of the state. Iowa Code § 455B.381(2). These are the acts with which appellants are charged in the present case, and they fall within the subject matter to which section 455B.392(1)(a) applies. We have previously recognized that, as a principle of statutory interpretation, where legislation dealing with a particular subject consists of a system of related general provisions indicative of a settled policy, new enactments of a fragmentary nature on that subject are to be taken as intended to fit into the existing system and to be carried into effect conformably to it.... Daily Record Co. v. Armel, 243 Iowa 913, 917, 54 N.W.2d 503, 506 (1952). Based on these considerations, we conclude that section 455B.392(1)(a) accurately reflects the policy of the state with respect to cleanup costs that may be imposed for the violations alleged in this case. The agency's order requiring implementation of a remedial action plan to abate and eliminate the soil and groundwater contamination must be limited to the extent of contamination caused by each appellant. We are able in this opinion to make some determinations of causation, or lack thereof, as a matter of law. To the extent that we cannot do this, further proceedings before the agency will be required to determine the extent of cleanup cost liability. We do not share the view advanced by the agency that the nature of the injury precludes apportionment of harm to causes. As discussed in Restatement (Second) of Torts: [I]f two defendants, independently operating the same plant, pollute a stream over successive periods, it is clear that each has caused a separate amount of harm, limited in time, and that neither has any responsibility for the harm caused by the other. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 433A cmt. c (1965). The apportionment thus required does not depend on the ability to make exact determinations. Harm may be apportioned based on reasonable assumptions to be drawn from the number, type, and severity of the actions or instrumentalities that separately caused the harm. Id. cmts. b, d.