US Ecology, Inc. v. State of California

This action arises from “one of our Nation’s newest problems of public policy”: the question of where to dispose of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW). (New York v. United States (1992) 505 U.S. 144, 149 [ 112 S.Ct. 2408, 2414 , 120 L.Ed.2d 120 ].) In 1985, the State Department of Health Services (Department) selected plaintiff US Ecology, Inc. (Ecology) to develop and operate California’s first LLRW storage facility. Ecology and state officials thereafter identified a location for the facility, known as Ward Valley, and completed favorable environmental reviews for that site. But the facility has yet to be built.

Ecology places the blame on the state’s failure to acquire the Ward Valley site from the federal government. Claiming that it spent millions of dollars in development costs in reliance on the state’s promise to use its best efforts to acquire the Ward Valley site, Ecology sued the state, the Department, the Department’s director, Diana M. Bontaz, and Governor Gray Davis, alleging breach of contract and promissory estoppel causes of action, and seeking a writ of mandate directing the state to take the necessary steps to acquire the Ward Valley site. The trial…