Using RCRA:s Imminent Hazard Provision in Hazardous Waste Emergencies

The Environmental Protection Agency's reliance on section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in fifty-six lawsuits it has filed since 1979 demonstrates the important role this provision can play in abating hazardous-waste emergencies. The sparse case law on section 7003 has interpreted it liberally, and the 1980 amendments further widen its scope. The Administrator need not wait until harm has materialized, but may act when a risk of harm to health or the environment exists. The relief the government may obtain is not limited to seeking injunctions; the Administrator may issue orders necessary to protect health or the environment. Although section 7003 does not create new substantive liability, it does incorporate the rapidly developing federal common law of nuisance, which has been held to apply in even those section 7003 suits that do not involve interstate waters or activities. The courts have imposed liability under section 7003 on landowners whose harmful activities were remote in time from the resulting hazard and parties that did not act affirmatively to cause the hazard but did fail to prevent it. Although the paucity of legislative history and decisional law on section 7003 leave unresolved significant issues concerning its scope, themore » section is a highly visible and important component of RCRA's cradle-to-grave hazardous-waste-disposal regulatory system. 145 references.« less