Description: Petition for review of corrective action permit imposing remediation requirements for polychlorinated biphenyls in the Housatonic River in Massachusetts and Connecticut that raised concerns regarding future climate change effects at disposal sites.
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Housatonic River Initiative v. EPA
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 07/25/2023 Opinion Download Petition for review denied. First Circuit Upheld EPA’s Remedy Selection for Housatonic River, Including EPA Consideration of Rejected Alternatives’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The First Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition by environmental groups challenging a permit issued by EPA to govern cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from portions of the Housatonic River. The First Circuit found that EPA properly considered greenhouse gas emissions in determining that a “hybrid” disposal approach would outperform fully offsite disposal in various metrics. The court rejected petitioners’ contention that under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) provision authorizing selection of remedial actions that do not meet certain applicable state and federal standards, only local impacts could be considered in determining whether compliance with the otherwise applicable standard would result in “greater risk to human health and the environment than alternative options.” In this case, the petitioners argued that it was not appropriate for EPA to consider environmental risks to communities away from the river, including risks related to greenhouse gases emitted in the course of offsite transportation. The First Circuit concluded that CERCLA’s statutory text “unambiguously” allowed EPA to consider health and environmental impacts resulting from noncompliance or compliance with the applicable federal and state standards, regardless of where the impacts occurred. The court’s opinion also noted that EPA’s rationale for choosing a remedy that did not include thermal desorption included the potential long-term impacts—including higher greenhouse gas emissions—of that remedial option. -
In re General Electric Co.
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 02/08/2022 Order Download Petition for review denied. Environmental Appeals Board Rejected Challenge to Corrective Action Permit that Raised Climate Change-Related Concerns. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) denied a petition for review of a corrective action permit imposing remediation requirements for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Housatonic River in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The petitioners had argued that EPA failed to demonstrate that a site near the river was suitable for disposal of PCBs, arguing, among other things, that “[o]bviously, no onsite facility can be guaranteed forever against leakage, especially considering the effects of climate change.” The petitioners also cited the risks of disturbance of contaminated sediment during climate-related disasters where PCBs were left in the environment. The EAB found that the petitioners failed to advance a “substantive critique” of EPA’s analysis of the risks “short of vague allegations … that eventually landfills will leak and groundwater monitoring will fail.” 03/05/2021 Brief Download Brief filed by petitioners.