ELR Citation: ELR 20714
No(s). CIV-86-1401-P (W.D. Okla. Aug 8, 1990)

The court holds that the remaining defendant in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) action involving the Hardage hazardous waste site in Oklahoma is liable as a transporter under CERCLA §§106(a) and 107(a)(4). The court holds that the United States established the site-specific elements for liability under CERCLA §§106 and 107. The court holds that defendant is liable as a transporter because the defendant selected the Hardage site for the disposal of hazardous substances on at least one occasion. The defendant contracted with an individual to use the site for hazardous waste disposal before approaching any of its customers, proposed the Hardage site to its customers, determined whether certain customers' waste would be sent to injection wells instead of the Hardage site, sent hazardous waste to the site without the knowledge of or instructions from certain customers, and represented itself to at least one customer as the owner/operator of the site. Further, members of the defendant's senior management admitted that the company selected the Hardage site for disposal of hazardous waste on certain occasions. The court holds that the defendant is jointly and severally liable for the government's response costs.

[Previous decisions in this litigation are published at 17 ELR 20242, 20738, 20741, 21082; 19 ELR 20254; 20 ELR 21307; 21 ELR 20706. A subsequent decision is published at 21 ELR 20721.]

Counsel are listed at 21 ELR 20706.