City of Fresno v. United States

MEMORANDUM DECISION RE: DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS OR FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO PLAINTIFF’S RCRA CLAIM; MOTION FOR PARTIAL JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS AS TO PLAINTIFF’S HSAA CLAIM (Docs. 142 & 143).

I. INTRODUCTION.

This is a dispute over environmental remediation between Plaintiff City of Fresno (the “City”) and Defendants the Boeing Company (“Boeing”), the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Guard Bureau (collectively, the “United States”). The dispute concerns the environmental remediation of Old Hammer Field (“OHF”) in Northeast Fresno, a site presently occupied by the Fresno-Yosemite International Airport. This site was used by the United States as an Army Air base during World War II. In 1946, the United States transferred the property to Plaintiff, which has since owned and controlled it. Boeing’s predecessor, North American Aviation, was one of Plaintiffs tenants of the property in the 1950s.

The City of Fresno has sued the United States and Boeing in a Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) under CERCLA, RCRA, HSAA, as well as various state law theories. Plaintiff alleges that it “has shouldered, and continues to…