ELR Citation: ELR 20270
No(s). 08-2151 (D.P.R. Sep 29, 2010)

A district court dismissed gas station operators' citizen suit against an oil company for alleged RCRA and UST regulation violations and vacated a preliminary injunction ordered against the company in a previous ruling. The operators alleged that releases of petroleum product from three USTs, formerly owned by the company, caused the contamination of soil and groundwater at and near the property where they operated their service station. The operators failed to establish the potential for an imminent and substantial endangerment to the environment at the site. While “imminence” does not require that the “harm necessarily will occur or that the actual damage will manifest itself immediately,” it must, nevertheless, be of the “kind that poses a near-term threat.”  As for the preliminary injunction previously issued, the court determined that the operators, in particular their expert, misled the court with inaccurate representations about the site and with false testimony about the extent of contamination and risks associated with it. Now that it is clear that the injunction was wrongfully obtained, the operators are left with the result of the equitable relief they sought. Accordingly, the company will recover a grand total of $512,823.98 from the operators for the combined costs of the site assessment and expert services. The company may also recover attorneys' fees in an amount to be later determined by the court.