Pinal Creek Group v. Newmont Mining Corp.

This case requires us to decide whether the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675 (“CERCLA”), provides a party who is partly liable for the cleanup of a hazardous waste site with a claim against other potentially responsible parties *1300 (“PRPs”) for the joint and several recovery of the totality of its cleanup costs. We answer in the negative.

/. BACKGROUND

“CERCLA was a response by Congress to the threat to public health and the environment posed by the widespread use and disposal of hazardous substances. Its purpose was to ensure the prompt and effective cleanup of waste disposal sites, and to assure that parties responsible for hazardous substances bore the cost of remedying the conditions they created.” Mardan Corp. v. C.G.C. Music, Ltd., 804 F.2d 1454, 1455 (9th Cir.1986).

Plaintiff is composed of three mining companies who have engaged in the voluntary cleanup of the Pinal Creek Drainage Basin, a hazardous waste site located in Arizona. In order to coordinate cleanup efforts, plaintiff companies formed the Pinal Creek Group (collectively, the “Pinal Group”). The Pinal Group commenced this action in an effort to…