Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Groundwater Category
Click here to view all posts

U. S. Supreme Court absolves Shell of Arvin pesticide spills

Posted by: Maven on May 6, 2009 at 7:45 am

From the Environment News Service:

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Shell is not liable for the contamination at an agricultural chemical distribution center in the Kern County city of Arvin, California. But the justices left in place a lower court determination that two railroads must bear their share of the cleanup costs.

Seeking reimbursement for remediation activities already done at the contaminated site, the California and U.S. governments had sued Shell and two railroads.

They were using the authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, CERCLA, which is designed to promote the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and to ensure that cleanup costs are borne by those responsible for the contamination.

The soil and groundwater on the five-acre site at issue, located 21 miles southeast of Bakersfield, are both contaminated with numerous hazardous chemicals.

Formerly the Brown & Bryant agricultural chemical distribution center, the deserted site now is on the nation’s Superfund List of abandoned hazardous waste sites.

Yet the Arvin-Edison Water District maintains six municipal groundwater wells within one mile of the site. The public water system supplies drinking water to about 7,800 people and irrigates about 19,600 acres of cropland. The area surrounding the site is industrial, agricultural, and residential.

Read more from the Environment News Service by clicking here.

May 6, 2009 · Filed Under Groundwater, San Joaquin Valley

Comments

Leave a Reply