ELR Citation: ELR 20083
No(s). CV-04-256-AAM (E.D. Wash. Nov 8, 2004)

A district court holds that a Canadian corporation that generated and disposed of hazardous substances directly into the Columbia River that were carried downstream into the waters of the United States must conduct a remedial investigation/feasibility study pursuant to a unilateral administrative order issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The corporation argued that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) cannot be applied to a Canadian corporation for actions taken by that corporation which occur within Canada. While there is no direct evidence that Congress intended extraterritorial application of CERCLA to conduct occurring outside the United States, there is also no direct evidence that Congress did not intend such application. There is, however, no doubt that Congress intended CERCLA to clean up hazardous substances at sites within the jurisdiction of the United States. That fact, combined with the well-established principle that the presumption against extraterritorial application generally does not apply where conduct in a foreign country produces adverse effects within the United States, leads the court to conclude that extraterritorial application of CERCLA is not precluded in this case.