ELR Citation: ELR 20189
No(s). 08-3433 (7th Cir. Aug 25, 2009)

The Seventh Circuit upheld an injunction, at the behest of EPA under the authority of RCRA, requiring an oil company to clean up a contaminated site in Hartford, Illinois. The lower court determined that millions of gallons of oil, composing a "hydrocarbon plume" trapped not far underground, are contaminating groundwater and emitting fumes that rise to the surface and enter houses in Hartford, thereby creating hazards to health and the environment. The court deemed it the company's legal responsibility to abate this nuisance because the plume was created by an oil refinery owned by a corporate predecessor of the company. The company argued that the government's claim to an injunction was discharged in bankruptcy and therefore cannot be renewed in this suit. Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, in the event that the equitable remedy turns out to be unobtainable, if the holder of an equitable claim can obtain a money judgment instead, the claim is dischargeable. Because the company would have to hire a third party to clean up the site at an estimated cost of $150 million, it argued that the claim should be dischargeable. But whether a polluter can clean up his pollution himself or has to hire someone to do it has no relevance to the policy of either the Bankruptcy Code or RCRA.

[A prior decision in this litigation can be found at 38 ELR 20194]