Just as tortfeasors take their victims as they find them, s0
PRPs take their hazardous waste sites as they find
them. This rule has been around since the
beginning of CERCLA and means that a party which arranges for
the disposal of its waste at one location can be generally be held
responsible for whatever response costs that waste generates,
including environmental cleanup costs at a second location if that
waste is transshipped without the knowledge of the PRP.
This issue recently arose in an
"unpublished" CERCLA decision in New Jersey, Epec Polymers, Inc. v. NL Industries,
Inc. There, a PRP had been dumping
radiological waste in the Raritan River for many years. The
river was dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers and the dredge
spoils placed on wetlands across the river from the PRP's
operations. When the hazardous nature of the dredge spoils
was discovered, the owner of the wetland property sued the PRP
under a number of federal, state, and common law
