Power Engineering Company - Partial Summary Judgement

On November 24, 2000, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado issued a favorable opinion in the RCRA enforcement case, U.S. v. Power Engineering Company, et. al. The court found that the defendants were required to establish financial assurance and obtain third party liability insurance as a result of illegal management of hazardous waste at the Denver, Colorado, facility.

Most significantly, the court's decision addressed arguments made by defendants that the U.S. was precluded from bringing an action based on prior actions by the State of Colorado and the defendants' reading of the Eighth Circuit's decision in Harmon Industries v. Browner, 191 F.3d 894 (1999). The court disagreed with the Eighth Circuit's decision (and its interpretation of RCRA) and found that enforcement action taken by states with authorized RCRA programs does not necessarily preclude enforcement action by EPA.