United States v. WCI Steel, Inc.

No. 4:98-CV-1082 (N.D. Ohio October 22, 1999)

ELR Digest

The court holds that the wastewater that an Ohio steelmaking facility treated, stored, and disposed of in three wastewater ponds exhibited the hazardous waste characteristic of corrosivity, and, thus, the ponds were subject to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The court first holds that although the sampling methods used by the federal government did not conform to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, the samples relied on were representative of the ponds as a whole and demonstrated that the ponds contained hazardous wastes. Here, the government relied on a limited number of tests done by EPA personnel and a large number of tests recorded by the facility's personnel at the intake to the central treatment plant. The reliability and accuracy of these samples supported the contention that the facility generated hazardous wastes. Therefore, the court holds that the facility violated RCRA because it treated, stored, and disposed of hazardous wastes without a permit. However, the government failed to show spent pickle liquor, a listed corrosive and toxic hazardous waste, was deposited into the ponds. The facility always neutralized any spent pickle liquor with excess lime, and such pickle liquor is exempt from RCRA hazardous waste regulations.

In determining the appropriate civil penalties, the court next holds that an after-tax, risk free rate to determine the present value of the facility's economic benefit was appropriate. In addition, the court considered the facility's violations, its past compliance, ability to pay, and the government's undue delay in bringing the action to assess a $ 1 million civil penalty against the facility rather than the $ 34 million penalty sought by the government.

The full text of this opinion is available from ELR (53 pp., ELR Order No. L-113).

Counsel for Plaintiff
Francis J. Biros
Environment and Natural Resources Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 514-2000

Counsel for Defendant
Van Carson
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey
4900 Key Tower
127 Public Sq., Cleveland OH 44114
(216) 479-8500

[30 ELR 20169]

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]