FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2021
CONTACT: media@conservamerica.org
ConservAmerica Submits Supreme Court Filing in Government of Guam v. U.S. Case
WASHINGTON, DC – ConservAmerica today submitted a “friend of the court” brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Guam v. United States arguing in favor of the plaintiff’s efforts to get the U.S. government to pay for the $160 million cleanup of a landfill that originated as a Navy waste disposal site.
At issue in the case is whether the U.S. government should be held liable for the cleanup under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
ConservAmerica General Counsel Brent Fewell argued in the amicus brief that a lower court decision allowing the U.S. government to escape responsibility undermines broader efforts to encourage landowners and innocent third parties, such as so-called Good Samaritans, to clean up abandoned mines.
Good Samaritan agreements provide greater certainty regarding the scope of a cleanup and the potential liability of third parties. The lower court’s decision creates a chilling effect that inhibits agency cooperation and efforts to mitigate environmental harm. “A party facing non-CERCLA litigation has little incentive to settle and begin cleanup if the parties cannot expressly limit the scope of that agreement as desired,” Fewell wrote.
ConservAmerica supports policies that encourage landowners and third parties to clean up properties damaged by legacy polluters. In most cases, the current landowners did not cause or contribute to the pollution but seek to voluntarily clean up legacy pollution, such as that caused by historic mining and resource extraction industries, to improve their property or local environmental conditions.
“The lower court’s ruling created a precedent that makes settlement more difficult and uncertain, delaying cleanups, and allowing legacy polluters to walk free at the expense of the Good Samaritan, endangering both public and private lands,” Fewell said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are more than 500,000 abandoned hardrock mines across the West that have polluted thousands of miles of waterways. Many third-party entities desire to restore these watersheds under Good Samaritan agreements with landowners and state resource agencies.
Read full brief here.
###
For further information, contact media@ConservAmerica.org. ConservAmerica is a nonprofit organization that advocates for balanced market-based solutions to conservation, environmental, and energy challenges. Visit us at ConservAmerica and follow us on Twitter @ConservAmerica and Facebook.