Opinion ID: 4563582
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Combe Superfund Site

Text: From 1948 until 1981, the Combe Fill South Landfill Superfund Site (the “Site”), a 65-acre parcel located in Chester and Washington Townships, New Jersey, functioned as a 8 municipal landfill, converting waste into the hazardous substance “ECO-Fuel II.” In 1978, Carter Day Industries, Inc. (“Carter Day”), then known as Combustion Equipment Associates, Inc., purchased and ran the Site through its subsidiary, the Combe Fill Corporation (“Combe Fill”), until it closed. During this period, Combe Fill hired Compaction Systems Corporation of Connecticut, Inc. and Compaction Systems Corporation (collectively, “Compaction”) to conduct operations at and transport hazardous materials to the Site. This appeal pits appellants Compaction and the Federal Government against appellee Carter Day. In 1983, the USEPA added the Site to the National Priorities List for long-term remedial evaluation and response. As part of the cleanup effort, the USEPA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (the “NJDEP”) entered into a cooperative agreement (the “Cooperative Agreement”) that continues today and designates the NJDEP as the lead agency to oversee the Site’s cleanup. Under this pact, the USEPA “contribute[d] one hundred percent (100%) of the cost of managing and performing” the remedial investigation and feasibility study and “ninety percent (90%) of the cost of managing and performing the work specified in [the remedial action],” with the NJDEP paying the other 10%. S.A. 34. An amendment clarified that “[n]othing contained in this Cooperative Agreement shall be construed to create . . . the relationship of agency between [US]EPA and the State[,]” and expressly “negated and denied” the authority of either party to “attempt to negotiate on behalf of the other.” S.A. 39–40. Over the decades, the USEPA incurred over $104 million in costs at the Site, while the NJDEP separately spent $24 million.