FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2008
Indiana Supreme Court Holds Crawfordsville Company Responsible for Environmental Clean-up Costs
Indiana Attorney General Office Supports Indiana Department of Environmental Management to Spare Hoosiers $16.4 million
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld a decision to overturn a trial court ruling that would have denied the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) the ability to exercise its authority to enforce strict standards of environmental clean-up at contaminated sites and would have cost taxpayers $16.4 million.
“This decision means Indiana taxpayers won't be stuck with a $16 million dollar bill as a lower court had ordered,” Attorney General Steve Carter said. “It also means a much higher standard can be enforced to protect Indiana's environment.”
“A company’s desire to rectify environmental damage with minimal cleanup standards harms the very people we serve to protect,” Attorney General Steve Carter said. “The court’s decision was critical to ensuring that taxpayers don’t have to choose between paying for stricter standards of cleanup or exposure to environmental harms.”
IDEM Commissioner Thomas W. Easterly applauds the ruling,
“This decision reinforces the fact that Indiana will hold those who cause contamination responsible for the costs of clean-up. I sincerely thank the staff of the Attorney General’s office for its efforts to ensure that Indiana taxpayers will not bear an undue burden.”
On June 12, 2006 and October 30, 2006 a Marion County Superior Court ordered the State to pay approximately $16.4 million, which included attorney fees to Raybestos Company for Breach of Contract.
In 1997, Raybestos entered into an Agreement with IDEM for a risk assessment and removal plan of high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) found in the Shelly Ditch, downstream from the Raybestos plant in Crawfordsville, IN. In 2003 Raybestos filed suit against IDEM for Breach of Contract when the Agency disproved the risk assessment and removal plan of the contamination. IDEM was also being challenged for seeking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) review to force Raybestos to clean-up PCB’s to safe levels. The original agreement between the parties in 1997 contained a level of PCB’s that was twenty times higher than federal requirements allow.
The Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the trial court ruling on November 14, 2007, finding that a cleanup level of PCB’s twenty times higher than that of the federal requirement would be contrary to public policy.
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