Cities Service Pipe Line Co. v. United States

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

KOZINSKI, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff owns an underground pipeline through which it transports oil under pressure. Where the pipeline crosses a waterway it is covered by mud. On the evening of March 20,1980, the pipeline burst, spewing approximately 8800 barrels of oil into Carpenter’s Bayou, a shallow, slow-running creek. Plaintiff cleaned up the mess at a cost of some $880,000. It then brought this action under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), 33 U.S.C. § 1321(i)(l) (1976), to recover its cleanup costs from the United States. Plaintiff alleges the spill was…