ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20024
No(s). 2:04-CV-00256-SAB (E.D. Wash. Feb 14, 2024) (Bastian, J.)

A district court denied a mining company's motion for partial summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning pollution from the company's British Columbia smelter along the Upper Columbia River. Tribal members sought natural resource damages for contamination of the river. The company argued the members' claims should be dismissed because they did not adhere to CERCLA regulations that allegedly require certain compliance by parties when evaluating natural resource damages assessments (NRDAs), the claims were premature, and potential costs to restore benthic habitat loss were too uncertain. The court found the company failed to identify a portion of CERCLA that required public participation, cost-effectiveness, or a “restoration alternatives analysis” in the NRDA procress, that the claims were ripe because they were brought within three years of discovery at sites where no remedial action was planned, and the company provided no case law demonstrating that the alleged uncertainty of members' damages calculations warranted summary judgment. It denied the company's motion.