Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, et al. v. United States et al. (556 U.S. 599)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 4, 2009 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 556 U.S. 599 · 129 S. Ct. 1870
- Decided
- May 4, 2009
- Term
- October Term 2008
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. In 1980, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Act), 94 Stat. 2767, as amended, 42 U. S. C. §§9601-9675, in response to the serious environmental and health risks posed by industrial pollution. See United States v. Bestfoods, 524 U. S. 51, 55 (1998). The Act was designed to promote the “‘timely cleanup of hazardous waste sites’ ” and to ensure that the costs of such cleanup efforts were borne by those responsible for the contamination. Consolidated Edison Co. of N. Y. v. UGI Util., Inc., 423 F. 3d 90, 94 (CA2 2005); see also Meghrig v. KFC Western, Inc., 516 U. S. 479, 483 (1996); Dedham Water Co. v. Cumberland Farms Dairy, Inc., 805 F. 2d 1074, 1081 (CA1 1986). These cases raise the questions whether and to what extent a party associated with a contaminated site may be held responsible for the full costs of remediation. I In 1960, Brown & Bryant, Inc. (B&B), began operating an agricultural chemical distribution business, purchasing pesticides and other chemical products from suppliers such as Shell Oil Company (Shell). Using its own equipment, B&B applied its products to customers’ farms. B&B opened its business on a 3.8-acre parcel of former farmland in Arvin, California, and in 1975, expanded operations onto an adjacent 0.9-acre parcel of land owned jointly…
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