The Law Is An Ass, RCRA Edition

Late last month, the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a public water supplier could be liable in a citizens' suit brought under the imminent and substantial endangerment provisions of RCRA, where the plaintiff alleged that the groundwater used by the supplier had been contaminated by the disposal of hexavalent chromium by a wood treatment facility upgradient of the supplier's well field.

Blaming the victim doesn't quite cover this. The law, as Mr. Bumble said, is an ass.

The majority opinion actually thought that this was a relatively simple and straightforward case. The statute makes liable those who "contribute" to the "transportation" of a solid waste that causes an endangerment. The defendant was manifestly transporting a solid waste, i.e., hexavalent chromium, through its pipes. The plaintiff alleged that this created a substantial endangerment.