ELR Citation: ELR 21464
No(s). s. 89-2529 et al (5th Cir. Jul 26, 1990)

The court holds that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not provide a private right-of-action to cover asbestos removal cost recovery actions. A school district sought to recover from an asbestos manufacturer the costs of removing asbestos-containing ceiling and fire-proofing products from various buildings. Congress intended to allow recovery only for releases or threatened releases from inactive and abandoned waste sites, not releases from useful consumer products in the structure of buildings. The court holds that the sale of asbestos-containing materials by a manufacturer is not "the arranging for disposal" of a hazardous substance at a facility that CERCLA §107(a) is designed to combat. CERCLA does not provide a remedy for asbestos removal.

Counsel for U.S. Mineral Products Company
William H. Yoes
Benckenstein, Oxford, Radford & Johnson
First Interstate Bank Bldg., P.O. Box 150, Beaumont TX 77704
(409) 833-9182

Counsel for National Gypsum Company
Lawrence T. Hoyle Jr., Denise D. Colliers, Charles B. Howland
Hoyle, Morris & Kerr
One Liberty Pl., Ste. 4900, 1650 Market St., Philadelphia PA 19103
(215) 981-5700

Harold H. Walker Jr.
Gardere & Wynne
Maxus Energy Tower, 717 N. Harwood St., Ste. 1500, Dallas TX 75201
(214) 979-4500

Counsel for County of Orange
Martin Dies, Mary Caroline Parker
Dies, Dies & Henderson
1009 W. Green, Orange TX 77630
(409) 883-4394

Counsel for Plaintiffs-Appellees
Ronald Scott, Robert B. Watts
Bracewell & Patterson
2900 S. Tower Pennzoil Pl., Houston TX 77002-2781
(713) 223-2900

Before THORNBERRY, GEE, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.