ELR Citation: ELR 20079
No(s). 85-6130 (2d Cir. Nov 6, 1985)

The court rules that the settlement agreement in a government suit, which requires defendant to control and clean up its hazardous waste dumps at the S-Area site in Niagara Falls, New York, fully protects the interests of the Province of Ontario, an intervenor in the suit. The court rejects intervenor's argument that the settlement does not protect it against migration of chemicals from the dump across the Niagara River and into Canada. There is no evidence of any such migration at present, and the agreement protects against future problems by requiring defendants to employ "requisite remedial technology" to control future threats to public health and the environment from the site. The requirement presumably will be enforced since the district court retained jurisdiction. Also, intervenor probably is precluded from raising the adequacy of the remedy since it participated fully in its negotiation. The court also rules that the district court properly dismissed intervenor's claims based on federal environmental statutes.

[The lower court opinion appears at 15 ELR 20801.]

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Jacques B. Gelin
Land and Natural Resources Division
Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 633-2762

Beryl Kuder, Ass't Attorney General
Environmental Protection Bureau
Department of Law, Capitol, Albany NY
(518) 474-7330

Counsel for Defendants
Joel F. Schweitzer
Gellman, Brydges, Schroff, & Schweitzer
800 Main St., Niagara Falls NY 14301
(716) 692-7225

George Berger
Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon
40 W. 57th St., New York NY 10019
(212) 977-9700

Before Lumbard, Van Graafeiland, and Meskill, JJ.