Court Opinion

ID: 9519944
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:28:13.637128+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:22.871798
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HOLDRIDGE, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. The circuit court correctly determined that the dismissed parties, as transporters or generators of waste, without ownership or control of the site, where not subject to liability under sections 21(a) and (p)(l) of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (the Act) (415 ILCS 5/21(a), (p)(l) (West 1996). Specifically, I agree with the circuit court’s determination that these sections of the Act were intended by the General Assembly to cover only an owner or operator of an illegal dump site. As the circuit court correctly noted, the phrase “cause or allow” when used in other sections of the Act is intended to apply only to acts of owners or operators of dump sites. In determining the legislature’s intent, the language of the statute as a whole must be examined, and each part or section must be considered in connection with every other part. Antunes v. Sookhakitch, 146 Ill. 2d 477 (1992). For the foregoing reasons, I dissent.