Waste

A federal appeals court appears to have broadened an earlier landmark ruling that exempts government contractors from World War II (WWII) Superfund liability if their contracts contain indemnification clauses.

EPA is close to finalizing an agreement with Massachusetts that relies on little-used Superfund authority allowing states to "enhance" some cleanup plans that will allow the state to include navigational dredging as part of EPA's plans to dredge contaminated sediments from portions of New Bedford harbor.

Invoking the authority will allow Massachusetts to streamline permitting requirements for disposal of sediment from the two projects, reduce disposal costs, coordinate monitoring and increase coordination between the two dredging projects, EPA says.

Top Interior Department (DOI) officials are raising concerns about EPA efforts to force a Canadian company to clean up contamination in a Washington state lake because of fears DOI's Bureau of Reclamation, which operates a nearby dam, could face Superfund liability at the lake as well as hundreds of other dams it operates, government sources say.

DOI's concerns could put further pressure on EPA to retreat from its efforts to hold Canadian mining giant Teck Cominco liable under CERCLA for mining releases that originated in Canada but eventually settled in Lake Roosevelt.

EPA will study the environmental risks posed by its plan to exempt over one million tons of hazardous waste from regulation, after the waste treatment industry and environmentalists criticized the agency's failure to study those risks when developing the proposal, according to an Office of Solid Waste (OSW) official.