Opinion ID: 775487
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fair Share of Remedial Costs

Text: 152 The majority's refusal to give full effect to the meaning of deposit and other terms also frustrates CERCLA's second central purpose: to ensure that the parties responsible for hazardous waste bear their fair share of cleanup costs. 153 This case presents a perfect illustration. The Partnership Defendants owned the property from 1977 until 1983, when they sold it to Carson Harbor. From 1945 until 1983, Unocal Corporation held a leasehold interest in the property. As the majority notes, Unocal used the property for petroleum production, operating a number of oil wells, pipelines, above-ground storage tanks, and production facilities. Majority Op. at 868. The evidence in the record indicates that the slag and tar-like material were placed on the property some time prior to the Partnership Defendant's ownership. Thus both the Partnership Defendants and Carson Harbor owned the property while lead and TPH from the tar and slag discharged into the wetlands. The only significant distinction between Carson Harbor and the Partnership Defendants is that during the latter's ownership, Unocal was actively engaged in petroleum production on the property. Thus, the Partnership Defendants had more reason to suspect the possibility of hazardous waste contamination than did Carson Harbor. But under the majority's interpretation of disposal, the Partnership Defendants are completely exempt from liability for the cleanup costs incurred by Carson Harbor. This is an absurd result. By contrast, under the interpretation I urge, the Partnership Defendants would be PRPs and so liable for some of the cleanup costs unless they were able to establish an affirmative defense. 154 The majority appears to believe that counting the sort of passive migration at issue here as disposal would essentially eliminate[ ] one of a PRP's central affirmative defenses: the innocent landowner defense. Majority Op. 881. This defense provides immunity from liability to a PRP who acquired property after the disposal or placement of [a] hazardous substance if, at the time the [PRP] acquired the facility the [PRP] did not know and had no reason to know that any hazardous substance which is the subject of the release or threatened release was disposed of on, in, or at the facility. 4 42 U.S.C. &#167 9601(35)(A). The majority's reasoning on this point is puzzling. The majority contends that an interpretation of disposal that included passive soil migration would lead to the conclusion that disposal is a never-ending process, rendering liable every landowner after the initial disposal. Majority Op. at 882. It then notes that for subsequent purchasers, the innocent landowner defense would be available only if one could show that the land was purchased after the hazardous substances were `placed' there. Id. The majority then concludes that the defense would be available only to a small portion of the landowners who have no actual culpability in the disposal of the hazardous substances. Id. But this conclusion is simply a non-sequitur. 155 Even if we accept for the sake of argument that the more expansive interpretation of disposal implies that disposal is a never-ending process, 5 it just does not follow that the innocent landowner defense would be available only to those who have no actual culpability in the disposal of the hazardous substances. Majority Op. at 882 (emphasis added). Congress made the defense available to any PRP who purchases property after the disposal or after the placement of a hazardous substance on the property. 42 U.S.C. &#167 9601(35)(A). Thus, if a PRP purchases property on which hazardous waste is passively migrating through the soil, under my interpretation the innocent landowner defense is not available to the PRP by virtue of the fact that she did not purchase the property after the disposal of the waste, since the disposal was on-going. However, if it was a prior owner who placed the hazardous waste on the property, then the defense is available to her by virtue of the fact that she bought the property after the hazardous substance was initially placed on the property. 6 Recognizing that the dispersal of hazardous waste through soil by water is disposal under the statute does not eliminate the innocent landowner defense. It leaves in place the narrow applicability of the defense.  Majority Op. at 887. 156 Nor does the inclusion of passive soil migration give rise to a parade of horribles. A PRP who cannot avail herself of an affirmative defense is liable only for her fair share of cleanup costs. It is up to the district court to apportion costs equitably among all PRPs. 42 U.S.C. &#167 9613(f)(1); see Boeing Co. v. Cascade Corp., 207 F.3d 1177, 1187 (9th Cir. 2000). Among the factors courts consider in allocating responsibility and liability are: 157 (i) the ability of the parties to demonstrate that their contribution to a discharge, release or disposal of a hazardous waste can be distinguished; (ii) the amount of the hazardous waste involved; (iii) the degree of toxicity of the hazardous waste involved; (iv) the degree of involvement by the parties in the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal of the hazardous waste; (v) the degree of care exercised by the parties with respect to the hazardous waste concerned, taking into account the characteristics of such hazardous waste; and (vi) the degree of cooperation by the parties with the Federal, State or local officials to prevent any harm to the public health or the environment. 158 Colorado & E. R.R. Co., 50 F.3d at 1536 n.5. Courts also take into account the existence of contractual or principal/agent relationships among PRPs, Cadillac Fairview/California, Inc. v. Dow Chemical Co., Nos. 83-8034 MRP (BX), 93-7996 MRP (BX), 1999 WL 149196, at  (C.D. Cal. Feb. 21, 1997); whether a PRP benefitted from the disposal of waste at the site, id.; whether a PRP has itself engaged in clean-up efforts, Pinal Creek Group v. Newmont Mining Corp., 118 F.3d 1298, 1393 n.4 (9th Cir. 1997), and the circumstances surrounding a PRP's action or inaction, id., United States v. Shell Oil Co., 13 F. Supp. 2d 1018, 1026-27 (C.D. Cal. 1998); and the relative amount of time a PRP owned the property, Dant & Russell, Inc. v. Burlington N. R.R. Co. (In re Dant & Russell, Inc.), 951 F.2d 246, 249 (9th Cir. 1991). 7 As the majority recognizes, CERCLA ensures that a PRP's contribution will be limited to her equitable share. Majority Op. at 882-83. Thus, including as PRPs owners of property in which hazardous waste is passively migrating through the soil does not expose such owners to unbounded liability. It merely holds them accountable for their fair shares of cleanup costs, based upon the circumstances surrounding their ownership.