ELR Citation: ELR 20528
No(s). 84-1364 (1st Cir. May 15, 1985)

The court rules that §7002 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires actual notice of intent to sue before filing a citizen suit and that the Act forecloses claims under the Civil Rights Act. The court first rules that §7002 requires actual notice. The statutory language is unambiguous and this circuit does not accept the reasoning of others that have adopted a "prgamatic" approach to the 60-day notice requirement found in RCRA and many other federal environmental statutes. The Supreme Court has demanded strict adherence to statutory limits on citizen suits under environmental statutes. The legislative history of the citizen suit provision of the Clean Air Act, on which those in RCRA and other environmental laws were based, as well as the policy concerns underlying the notice requirement, support the court's strict reading of the provision. Finally, the court rules that RCRA's comprehensive remedial preempts claims under 42 U.S.C. §1983.

Counsel for Appellants
Pedro J. Saade Llorens, Josefina Pantoja Oquendo, Armando Cardona Acaba, Luis Amauri Suarez Zayas, Maria D. Olores Fernos, Jose E. Colon Santana, Emmalind Garcia Garcia
Puerto Rico Legal Services, Inc.
P.O. Box CM, Rio Pedro PR 00928
(809) 763-5007

Counsel for Appellee
Leonardo Andrade Lugo
Goldman & Antonetti
409 Insurance Center, 701 Ponce de Leon Ave., San Juan PR 00908
(809) 721-2424

Before Coffin and Bownes, JJ.