(Adds background to case, paragraphs 3-4)
By Andrew Chung
April 20 - 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, in a 7-2 ruling, 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.
In the ruling authored by conservative Chief Justice John
Roberts, the court decided that under the law governing
Superfund sites the property owners needed the approval of the
EPA before undertaking restoration of their own contaminated
land. Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by fellow conservative
Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented from the ruling.
The decision represented a victory for companies like
Atlantic Richfield and business groups that said the lower
court's decision could lead to the filing of thousands more
lawsuits against companies nationwide, further complicating
federally mandated improvements to contaminated land.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)