A Snowball's Chance in Guam

Usually when a case gets to the United States Supreme Court the question is a close one but I honestly don't see how the United States of America thinks it has a snowball's chance in Guam in this case.

You may remember that the Supreme Court is about to hear a case about whether the United States, whose Navy constructed and used the Ordot Dump in Guam, can be held responsible for paying some percentage of the $160 million Guam spent to prevent further contamination from the Dump.

The United States says that the statute of limitations clock on Guam's ability to seek contribution from the United States under the Federal Superfund statute began ticking when Guam and the United States EPA inked a Consent Decree under the Clean Water Act, not when Guam incurred the costs toward which it is seeking contribution.

Yesterday Guam made its reply to the Supreme Court. Guam says that its Superfund claim for contribution toward costs incurred as a result of the actions and inactions of the Navy is not affected by the earlier Clean Water Act Consent Decree with EPA. That makes complete sense to me.

Let's consider the current wave of citizens suits under the Clean Water Act. Should anyone entering into a Consent Decree to resolve one of those suits assume that they are triggering any claims they might have for contribution under the Superfund statute relating to the same location? Of course not.

And, not for nothing, how do we feel about our Federal Government attempting to hide from costs for which it is undeniably responsible, at least in part, behind a tortured reading of a statute?