ELR Citation: ELR 20024
No(s). CV-04-0376-AAM (E.D. Wash. Dec 30, 2005)

A court preliminarily enjoins the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) from formally issuing a proposed plan identifying remedial action to take place at the Moses Lake Well Field Contamination site in Moses Lake, Washington, until they provide the city all the information required under §120(f) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and allow the city to participate in the selection and planning of the remedy. Because the proposed plan is not a §104 removal action, but a §120 remedial action, the city is not jurisdictionally barred from seeking relief. Further, without reviewing the proposed plan and its alternative remedies, there is no way for the city to meaningfully and intelligently participate in the planning and selection of the remedial action. And if EPA and the Corps were to issue the proposed plan immediately without allowing review by the city, the city's §120(f) rights would be violated and the city would be irreparably harmed.