U.S. appellate Court Unanimously Rules Against GE Regarding EPA’s Use of Unilateral Orders

EPA has not as yet issued an unilateral order against General Electric to perform a particular cleanup action for the 40 mile stretch of the Hudson River north of Albany to reduce the risk of environmental degradation and/or human health. GE sued stating that the unilateral order provision of Superfund violated General Electric’s due process rights under the constitution (possibly as a reaction to the many sites they have across the county). The appellate court unanimously disagreed, stating that Superfund upholds the due process requirements since a responsible party’s action can force the EPA to sue in court. There are two commonly used venues to cleanup a site. One, EPA can issue unilateral orders stating you will do this. Two, do the necessary cleanup and sue the responsible Party(s) for reimbursement of the cleanup costs. This ruling lets all responsible parties around the country know that EPA has the ultimate authority on superfund cleanups.