Quaker State Corporation v. United States Coast Guard

681 F. Supp. 280 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Oil in streams in Northwestern Pennsylvania is not uncommon, and not always unnatural. Seepage from subterranean oil deposits has leaked into these streams for hundreds of years. Natural contamination of streams still occurs today. In the last century, manmade sources of stream contamination are also common. Neglected or abandoned wells, pipelines, drilling sites, and waste containment pits have created myriad opportunities for the discharge of oil into Pennsylvania's streams. On July 2, 1985, D and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) observed a sheen on the surface of the water on Pine Run. Nearby they discovered an abandoned and refilled wastewater containment pit with evidence of petroleum residues. D cleaned it up at a cost of $430,000.00. D demanded payment of those costs, plus interest and penalties, from P. P filed this declaratory judgment action seeking to determine the single discrete issue of whether it was an 'owner or operator' of the site within the meaning of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1321(f). D sought to establish strict liability under § 1321(f). P filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the Act by its terms defined 'owner or operator' as of the time of discovery of the spill. P's lease expired in 1975 and operations ceased in 1978, P contends it could not be an 'owner or operator' in 1985 when the spill was discovered. D contends that 'owner or operator' is defined as of the date of initial discharge. It argues that the date of discovery, even if years after the discharge, is irrelevant. D contends that the initial discharge occurred in 1977 or 1978 while P was still engaged in operations on the site. The age of the pit involved here is unknown. We do know that the pit existed prior to 1968 and that P did not use the pit in its operations after that date. Indeed there is no evidence that P ever used this pit. At some time in 1977, at the direction and under the supervision of the U. S. Forest Service, the owner of the surface rights, P covered the pit by bulldozing earth over it, compacting and seeding it. P completed its abandonment operations early in 1978.