ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20111
No(s). 3:21CV00933(SALM) (D. Conn. Sep 16, 2022) (Merriam, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part an oil company's motion to dismiss a CWA and RCRA citizen suit brought by an environmental group. The group alleged 14 counts against the company, arguing it violated the CWA and RCRA by failing to prepare its bulk storage and fuel terminal in New Haven, Connecticut, for the impacts of climate change. The company moved to dismiss for lack of standing, asserting that the group's claimed injury to aesthetic and recreational uses of waterways was not "certainly impending" injury. The court found that a major weather event, magnified by climate change, could happen at virtually any time such that injury to the group's members was certainly impending and/or presented "substantial risk." The company also moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court found that the group's RCRA claim concerning "open dumping" was prohibited because Connecticut had its own federally authorized hazardous waste management program that superseded RCRA, and that it lacked jurisdiction over the CWA claims brought against the former owner and operator because a wholly past owner or operator is not liable for current violations under the CWA. It granted the company's motion to dismiss with respect to the RCRA open dumping claim and the CWA claims against the former owner and operator, but denied it as to all other counts.