The WTI Incinerator: The RCRA Citizen Suit and the Emergence of Environmental Human Rights

Authors

Hallie L. Shipley

Publication Date

2012

Abstract

The WTI Incinerator currently operates in East Liverpool, Ohio, burning toxic waste despite a district court ruling that held it posed an imminent and substantial risk to both human health and the environment. Unfortunately for the Ohio plaintiffs, the Circuit Court of Appeals in this case misinterpreted the RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) Citizen suit provision, barring any remedy for the Ohio citizens who brought the suit. This flawed interpretation has been adopted nationwide by other Appellate Circuit Courts. This article compares the remedies available to U.S. citizens for environmental harms with those remedies available to the citizens under the European Union Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, using the WTI Incinerator as a case study. This article argues that Congress needs to rewrite the RCRA citizen suit provision to allow for the remedies it originally intended to allow U.S. citizens the same redresses against environmental harms enjoyed by those citizens in other international jurisdictions.

First Page

193

Recommended Citation

Note, The WTI Incinerator: The RCRA Citizen Suit and the Emergence of Environmental Human Rights, 2 Global Bus. L. Rev. 193 (2012)