Ohio v. U.S. Department of Energy

BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr., Circuit Judge.

This interlocutory appeal requires us to determine whether the United States has waived its sovereign immunity for actions for civil damages under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq., and the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. We affirm the district court’s decision that sovereign immunity was waived under both statutes.

The United States Department of Energy owns a 1,050 acre uranium processing plant in Fernald, Ohio that is operated under a management contract by private contractors. The Fernald facility processes…