ELR Citation: ELR 20120
No(s). 06-1266 (C.D. Ill. May 15, 2007)

The court dismissed a town's nuisance claim against the owners of an national priorities list site in Illinois. An interim consent order required the owners to complete a remedial investigation and feasibility study and to take remedial action at the site. The town was not a party to the interim consent order and was not seeking to enforce the terms of the order. Instead, the town claimed that the presence of hazardous substances at the site violates its nuisance ordinance. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), however, preempts the town's claim. By seeking injunctive relief to enforce its nuisance ordinance, the relief being sought constitutes a challenge under CERCLA §113(h) to ongoing remediation at the site. The Illinois Environmental Protection Act also preempts the nuisance claim. The court, therefore, granted the owners' motion to dismiss.