Court Opinion

ID: 9494616
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:42:18.925564+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:30.878562
License: Public Domain

NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
While I concur in the judgment reached by Judge Gilman’s well-reasoned opinion, I write separately to emphasize the remedial purpose of CERCLA. My colleague correctly concludes that the district court’s factual findings did not obligate it to allocate response costs to Rockwell. However, it is important to address the CERC-LA’s central purpose because the outcome in this case presents a troubling anomaly.
Congress enacted CERCLA “to ensure prompt and efficient cleanup of hazardous waste sites and to place the costs of those cleanups on [potentially responsible parties(“PRPs”)].” United States v. Akzo Coatings of America, 949 F.2d 1409, 1417 (6th Cir.1991). This court stressed the remedial purpose of CERCLA in its opinion which overturned the district court’s “threshold of significance standard: “CERCLA’s central purpose [is] facilitating the prompt cleanup of hazardous waste.” Kalamazoo River Study Group v. Menasha Corp., 228 F.3d 648, 652 (6th Cir.2000); see also 126 Cong. Rec. 26,338 (1980) (stating that by enacting CERCLA, Congress intended to create “a strong incentive both for prevention of releases and voluntary cleanup of releases by responsible parties.”). In Menasha, this court reasoned that CERCLA contribution plaintiffs should not “face the prospect of being required to establish that a particular defendant in fact contributed at least a minimally significant share of the wastes at issue,” because it would deter contribution plaintiffs from cooperating with the government. Menasha, 228 F.3d at 657. This court, thus, held that the threshold of significance standard was contrary to CERCLA’s remedial purpose because it “could discourage parties from voluntary cleanup efforts and from settlement.” Id.
In the specific context of response costs allocation in CERCLA contribution actions, federal courts have directly held that a district court’s allocation of response costs will not be set aside unless it is determined that the court abused its discretion. Meyer, 932 F.2d at 573. Additionally, in these cases, the factual findings underlying the district court’s allocation of response costs may be set aside only if clearly erroneous. Schroyer, 197 F.3d at 1173. My colleague correctly concludes that there was nothing erroneous about the district court’s factual findings nor was there any abuse of discretion here. How*1053ever, I still believe the result in this case is both troubling and anomalous.
Despite Congress’s intent to create “a strong incentive both for prevention of releases and voluntary cleanup of releases by responsible parties”, Rockwell, a known polluter, has been allowed to escape response costs on the grounds that its PCB release was sufficiently “inconsequential” to remove the justification for allocation of costs. Thus, we are left with no “definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed” by a known polluter. Logan, 865 F.2d at 790 (6th Cir.1989).
Granted, Rockwell’s PCB release was minimal. However, § 107(a) imposes strict liability for any release that causes a plaintiff to incur response costs. Although the equitable analysis provision of § 113(f) provides for judicial discretion with regard to the cost apportionment among PRPs, the statutory purpose of CERCLA and the principles of equity require that each PRP pay its fair share of response costs, no matter how large or small. Indeed, no PRP should pay more than their share, but neither should any party pay less. Here, however, Rockwell pays nothing.
Accordingly, by not allocating any response costs to a known polluter, the outcome in this case contravenes the important remedial purposes of CERCLA. Nevertheless, because I believe that the discretion regarding allocation of costs should remain with the district court, I join in this court’s conclusion despite a rather pinched view of the statute, and CONCUR in the court’s opinion.