ELR Citation: ELR 20008
No(s). 05-2331 (1st Cir. Dec 22, 2006)

The court affirmed a lower court decision against a company in a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) citizen suit action concerning mercury contamination along the Penobscot River. The lower court found that the company's disposal activities may have created an imminent and substantial danger and, hence, that the plaintiffs met their burden of proof. It then directed the parties to agree on a study plan. The parties complied, and the lower court ultimately approved a plan that would likely require the company to spend around $4 million for laboratory analyses. The company then appealed, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing, that the lower court set the bar too low for RCRA citizen suits, and that the lower court abused its discretion in fashioning relief. Yet, contrary to these claims, the plaintiffs have standing. Likewise, the plaintiffs established that the potential risk from mercury is serious and likely to be present here and now. These findings, in turn, support a conclusion that there may be an imminent and substantial endangerment to the lower Penobscot River. No more is needed. And once liability has been found, equitable relief in RCRA citizen suits is largely in the informed discretion of the trial court, and the court below did not abuse this discretion in its choice of remedy.

[A prior decision in this litigation is digested at 32 ELR 20826.]