In City of Stamps v. Alcoa, Inc., No. 05-1049, 2006 WL 2254406 (W.D. Ark. Apr. 3, 2006), the court denied a motion to dismiss on a claim that an aluminum recycling operation caused pollution requiring RCRA remediation. Persons who contracted to send their aluminum scrap and dross to the site were potentially liable under RCRA because they “contributed” to the handling and storage of solid waste. The complaint alleged that the defendants knew of the environmental risks posed by the operations at the site. This knowledge sufficed to show the defendants’ “authority to control” the release because they “could have chosen some other method of disposing of their solid waste.” The complaint also alleged that the salt cake present at the site presented an imminent and substantial endangerment to the environment through killing vegetation, polluting streams, and causing groundwater contamination.
In Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell Interna-tional, Inc., 204 F. Supp. 2d 804 (D.N.J. 2002), the court held that a defendant could be liable under RCRA for contributing to the threat, even without active disposal, which had occurred before the defendant acquired the property. The defendant had allowed the past owner to enter the property to conduct some remediation. But the...
