U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. Story Archives

Civil Penalty Of $1.4 Billion Sought In Union Carbide Landfill Case

Union Carbide has asked a federal judge to reject the proposed penalty, as well as Courtland’s proposed injunction under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Union Carbide has asked a federal judge to reject a proposed settlement over a landfill site in South Charleston.

Courtland, a real-estate company, has proposed that Union Carbide pay a civil penalty of $1.4 billion to settle a series of lawsuits over an inactive waste disposal site.

Last year, U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. ruled that the Filmont Landfill in South Charleston was an illegal open dump under federal law and that Union Carbide violated the Clean Water Act by failing to seek a permit for the site.

Union Carbide has asked Copenhaver to reject the proposed penalty, as well as Courtland’s proposed injunction under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

That injunction would mean the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would supervise the cleanup of the site.

Union Carbide is working with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection on a voluntary remediation plan. The company says Courtland’s proposal would delay the cleanup of the site.

Union Carbide cited testimony from David Carpenter, a licensed remediation specialist, that the voluntary program under DEP could get the site remediated by the end of 2026.

Carpenter testified that Courtland’s proposed injunction would extend the process by five to eight years.

The EPA’s program, the National Contingency Plan, is meant for sites that pose an imminent danger to the public, Carpenter said, and that the Filmont Landfill was not such a site.

Union Carbide operated the landfill for about 30 years, but its existence wasn’t widely known until a 2018 lawsuit in federal court in Charleston.

A landfill that discharges stormwater into navigable U.S. waterways must seek a permit under the Clean Water Act. Filmont is adjacent to Davis Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River.

Union Carbide is a subsidiary of Dow Chemical.

Judge Sides With Union Carbide On Inspection, Testing Of Landfill

As part of its ongoing lawsuit against Union Carbide, the Courtland Company asked U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. to collect soil samples at UCC’s Filmont Landfill in South Charleston.

A federal judge has denied a company’s request to inspect and test property owned by Union Carbide.

As part of its ongoing lawsuit against Union Carbide, the Courtland Company asked U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. to collect soil samples at UCC’s Filmont Landfill in South Charleston.

This week, Copenhaver denied the request, siding with UCC. UCC had argued that Courtland would have access to the data it has collected as part of its voluntary remediation of the site, under the supervision of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

The trial is now in its penalty phase. In September, Copenhaver ruled that UCC violated the federal Clean Water Act by not having permits for stormwater discharge and that the landfill was an illegal open dump. UCC could face fines of $64,618 per day per violation.

The parties participated in an 18-day bench trial last year in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, where Copenhaver is a senior judge.

Union Carbide, now part of Dow chemical, operated the Filmont landfill from the 1950s to the 1980s. The property borders Davis Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River, and Courtland’s property in South Charleston.

Both companies may have to pay remediation costs, but only UCC faces potential civil penalties.

The case has been active since 2018. The general public had no knowledge of the Filmont Landfill until Copenhaver unsealed documents the following year that revealed its existence.

According to testimony in the trial, a handful of local officials and the state DEP were previously aware the landfill existed and was possibly contaminating soil and water in the area.

The next phase of the trial could take place early next year.

Federal Judge Rules Against Union Carbide In South Charleston Landfill Case

A federal judge in Charleston has ruled against Union Carbide, ordering the company to pay for the cleanup of a hazardous materials site in South Charleston.

This story has been clarified to reflect that the penalty phase of the trial will take place at a later date.

A federal judge in Charleston has ruled against Union Carbide, finding the company in violation of federal law over a hazardous materials site in South Charleston.

Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, in a 400-page ruling dated Sept. 28, said Union Carbide is responsible for the cleanup of the Filmont site, where numerous hazardous substances were dumped from the 1950s to the 1980s, under the federal Superfund law, or CERCLA.

Copenhaver ruled the Filmont site violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, creating an illegal “open dump.” Union Carbide also violated the federal Clean Water Act, which required the company to seek a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for stormwater runoff from an adjacent railyard it owns.

Copenhaver’s ruling mostly favors the Courtland Company, which had first sued Union Carbide in 2018 over contamination of its property from the Union Carbide landfill and railyard.

Copenhaver dismissed two of the pending lawsuits against Union Carbide. And he also ruled that Courtland is responsible for cleaning up contamination on its South Charleston property that was not caused by Union Carbide.

Both properties are adjacent to Davis Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River. The Filmont landfill is located in the city of South Charleston, down the hill from the Union Carbide Tech Center, which is also on the Superfund list, and across Davis Creek from where the West Virginia Division of Highways is performing major construction on the Jefferson Road interchange.

The penalty phase of the trial will take place at a later date.

The case was the subject of an 18-day trial in Charleston last year.

Union Carbide had argued that it was not required to remediate the site under CERCLA, the site was not an “open dump” and it was not required to seek a permit from the EPA.

Copenhaver, 98, is one of the last active federal judges nominated by President Gerald Ford. Copenhaver was confirmed to the federal bench in 1975.

Union Carbide is a subsidiary of Dow Chemical.

View previous reporting on this issue from West Virginia Public Broadcasting here.

Union Carbide Asks Judge To Bar 'Prejudicial' Words In Lawsuit

In a court filing this week, Union Carbide asked U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver to limit what Charleston attorney Michael Callaghan can say in court.

The company requested that Copenhaver bar Callaghan from using words it calls “improper, inaccurate and prejudicial.”

Those include “facility,” “dump” or “open dump,” “hazardous waste,” “pollutant or contaminant,” “point source,” “discharge,” “direct discharge,” “discharge of a pollutant,” “waters of the United States” and “disposal.”

Callaghan, who represents the Courtland Company, is suing Union Carbide over contamination of Courtland’s property in South Charleston, allegedly from a landfill site owned by Carbide.

A number of toxic substances have been detected in Davis Creek adjacent to the Carbide landfill. Davis Creek is a tributary of the Kanawha River.

Callaghan says Carbide is in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and should pay civil penalties for it. The case is set to go to trial in June.

Judge Approves Settlement for Century Aluminum Retirees

A federal judge in West Virginia has approved a $23 million settlement that will provide health care benefits for retired workers at Century Aluminum.

Media outlets report U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver on Monday approved the settlement reached in February, ending a six-year court fight.

Benefits for more than 750 retirees and their families were taken away shortly after the plant in Ravenswood closed in 2009. Karen Gorrell, a spokeswoman for the retirees, says about 660 retirees are still alive.

Under the settlement, the funds will be paid by the company over 10 years into a trust fund to reimburse retirees’ medical costs.

Efforts to obtain a special electricity rate for the plant failed two years ago. The plant has been sold to a New Jersey developer, which plans to demolish it.

Trial Delayed Involving Lawsuit in West Virginia Chem Spill

A federal judge is delaying the trial involving a lawsuit filed against a water company and a manufacturer that sold a chemical to a company involved in a massive spill in Charleston.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver told attorneys during a monthly status hearing last week he would need more time to review and rule on several motions. The trial had been scheduled to start July 12.

No new trial date was set. Copenhaver set another status hearing for June 10.

The class-action lawsuit was filed by residents and businesses against Eastman Chemical, West Virginia American Water and its parent company, American Water Works, over their roles in the January 2014 spill.

Eastman produced the coal-cleaning agent that leaked from a Freedom Industries tank.