Opinion ID: 794918
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Soils and Groundwater

Text: 54 The revised ROD for Operable Unit 2 (OU-2) addressed contaminated on-site soils, foundations, and underground utilities and off-site soils and sediments that had been excavated from off-site areas and stored on the site. The remedy selected required the excavation of dioxin contaminated soil, and the disposal of this soil in an on-site containment vault. The ROD for Operable Unit 3 (OU-3) dealt with groundwater contamination under the site. It states that groundwater contamination at the site is complex, resulting from past waste management and disposal practices. Sources of contamination include on-site landfills, spills and discharges into the central ditch, Reasor Hill well, and other parts of the central process area. J.A. at 20136. 55 Hercules argues that the soil and groundwater contamination were divisible as successive harms based on the relative production volumes of 2,4,5-T and 2,4,5-TP attributable to Hercules from 1961 until it sold the plant in 1976 and to Vertac from that point until it ceased production of 2,4,5-T in 1979. Based on the estimated production figures, Keilman determined that Hercules was responsible for 70.74% of the EPA's response costs. J.A. at 27177. To reach this figure, Hercules relied on the following assumptions and evidence: (1) Hercules assumed that leaks and spills took place at roughly the same frequency and severity during the plant's production of 2,4,5-T and 2,4,5-TP; (2) Keilman testified that prior to 1965, most of the dioxin left the plant with the product; (3) Hercules offered evidence that the half-life of dioxin in soil is approximately twelve years, though it ranged from a few days to decades; and (4) Hercules touted its housekeeping and maintenance practices as being far superior to those of Vertac. 56 The district court determined that this evidence was not sufficiently concrete and specific to apportion the harm. Most importantly, there was no evidentiary basis for Hercules's assumption that the release of wastes at the site was related to production volumes, nor was there any testimony that there was any reasonably constant ratio or direct correlation between the releases of dioxin and production of dioxin generating products. As the district court pointed out and as the record reveals, the production methods changed over the years, the specifications for the product varied, Hercules and Vertac used different methods of disposal of dioxin contaminated filter paper and cardboard drums, and each companies experienced different plant eruptions. Although Hercules may be able to fairly estimate the production volumes of 2,4,5-T and 2,4,5-TP from the time it owned the plant, the district court correctly held that it cannot establish the inferences necessary to prove a reasonable basis for apportionment of harm. 57 Hercules argues that the EPA's response choices for the soils, groundwater, and off-site areas are arbitrary and capricious and that Hercules should not be held liable for the corresponding response costs. Having considered the record, we conclude that Hercules's argument is without merit.