U.S. Supreme Court sides with BP unit to curtail Superfund site cleanup lawsuits

By Andrew Chung

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court ruling that had allowed litigation by Montana landowners to proceed against BP Plc unit Atlantic Richfield Co seeking a more extensive cleanup of a hazardous waste site than the federal government had ordered.

The justices tossed a state court decision that allowed the claims for restoration damages by the private landowners within the sprawling site of its former Anaconda copper smelter in western Montana to proceed to trial. The case involves the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program responsible for cleaning up certain toxic waste sites.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)