Date: April 15, 2013
Source: News Room
A federal court, affirming a lower court, has ruled that wood preservative escaping from utility poles is not a "solid waste" to be governed by the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled April 3 in Ecological Rights Foundation (ERF) v. Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Pacific Bell Telephone Company that ERF had failed to state a claim under RCRA or under the water law because discharges of storm water from the utility poles were neither a "point source discharge" nor "associated with industrial activity." ERF argued that PCP-based wood preservative that leaks, spills and drips from the utility poles poses an "imminent and substantial endangerment." The court relied on RCRA's legislative history to reach its ruling, finding that RCRA's definitions of "solid waste" and "disposal" are too ambiguous to provide guidance in deciding whether "solid waste" includes wood preservatives that escape from utility poles.
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