ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20182
No(s). 12-15691 (9th Cir. Aug 1, 2014)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision approving CERCLA consent decrees between settling parties and the state concerning cleanup costs stemming from a hazardous waste site near Tucson, Arizona. Several nonsettling PRPs intervened in the case, seeking a court order that the state could not, in the future, hold them jointly and severally liable for costs related to the site’s cleanup. The lower court properly declined their request because the intervenors did not request such relief in their complaints. But the lower court nevertheless erred in entering the proposed CERCLA consent decrees. A district court has an obligation to independently scrutinize the terms of CERCLA consent decrees by, among other things, comparing the proportion of total projected costs to be paid by the settling parties with the proportion of liability attributable to them. Here, the lower court failed to independently scrutinize the terms of the agreements, and in so doing, afforded undue deference to the state's environmental agency. The case was therefore affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.