Tennessee Environmental Law Blog

A provision of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as CERCLA or the Superfund law, gives EPA the power to issue unilateral orders directing companies clean up hazardous waste for which they are responsible if the sites pose an imminent and substantial threat to public safety, seeking to ensure that polluters pay for environmental hazards they create.

 

GE brought a challenge to CERCLA, which was rejected by the district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. GE then appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that EPA’s cleanup orders violated constitutional due process rights and impermissibly coerced compliance. Specifically, GE argued, companies that refuse to follow the orders can face large fines, significant decreases in their stock price, and increases in their financing costs. It said the EPA in the last 30 years has issued 1,700 orders to more than 5,400 companies in compelling actions costing $5 billion, without any advance notice or hearing before their issuance. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group supported GE.

 

The U.S. Department of Justice opposed GE’s appeal. It said the law provided sufficient procedural safeguards and companies that refuse to comply with an order can get a federal court hearing.

 

By denying GE’s petition in General Electric v. Lisa Jackson, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, No. 10-871, the justices let the lower court’s ruling stand upholding the constitutionality of EPA’s cleanup orders under CERCLA. The Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal without comment.

 

 

 

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