SCOTUS Allows Toxic Waste Case against U.S. [1]
On May 24, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its judgment in Guam v. United States [3], holding that “a case against the US for causing toxic waste pollution in Guam may proceed.” According to JURIST [4], the case involves toxic waste dumping at a site known as Ordot Dump, which, Guam argued, is the responsibility of the U.S. This site was constructed in the 1940s for the purpose of military waste disposal, but it appears that over the years, harmful chemical toxins, such as Agent Orange and DDT, were dispersed and leaked into regional water channels and the Pacific. Guam argued that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act [5] (CERCLA) required the U.S. to cover the costs of cleaning up and closing the facility. CERCLA is designed to not only avert pollution dumping, but also determine who qualifies as the party responsible for the damages. The U.S. was the first to issue its suit through the Environmental Protection Agency, referencing the Clean Water Act in the early 2000s, which was subsequently followed by Guam’s suit in 2017, six years after the site was shut down. The Court’s judgment favored Guam’s case, despite the U.S. Navy’s argument that CERCLA’s statute of limitations had tolled because Guam took “response actions.” The Supreme Court unanimously disagreed, holding that Guam did not qualify as a liable party under the guidelines outlined in CERCLA.