U.S. Not Liable for Cleanup for Ordering Mine Closed in WWII

The federal government isn’t liable for any of the $32 million spent so far cleaning up hazardous waste from a privately-owned gold mine it ordered closed to conserve resources during World War II, the Ninth Circuit said Monday.

The U.S. isn’t liable under the Superfund law as an “operator” of the mine because, by instructing the mine operator to shut down, it didn’t manage, direct or conduct operations specifically related to pollution at California’s Lava Cap Mine Site, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

The ruling means that Sterling Centrecorp Inc., which the court found to ...