Supreme Court Could Choose ‘Chaos’ or Order in Superfund Case

The U.S. Supreme Court’s choice to take on Atlantic Richfield’s Montana Superfund case could stoke a “blaze of litigation” or reinforce order under the contamination cleanup statute, depending on what the court decides, attorneys said.

Atlantic Richfield Co. is responsible for executing the Environmental Protection Agency’s cleanup plan at the Anaconda Smelter Superfund site in Deer Lodge Valley, Mont.

A group of landowners whose properties are part of the Superfund site sued the company in lower courts and proposed their own cleanup plan, saying the EPA’s plan doesn’t go far enough to address the contamination. Their plan would ...