ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20035
No(s). 11-1697 (4th Cir. Feb 7, 2013)

The Fourth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a lower court decision dismissing an electronic manufacturer's CERCLA claim against the United States for costs it incurred cleaning up tricholoroethylene (TCE) contamination on a parcel of property in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The manufacturer claimed that the government, which used adjoining property as an air field during World War II, should be held liable as a contributor to the TCE contamination. The lower court ruled that the United States did not contribute to any contamination on the manufacturer's property, and the manufacturer appealed. But the lower court undertook an exhaustive review of the evidence before arriving at its conclusion, and the manufacturer failed to show how this factual finding was clear error.