Case Number: SLS No. 97-016
Title: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Case Files: Case (15 pages)  |  Exhibits (60 pages)

Teaching Note:

• SLS No. 98-017 (11 pages)
• (Request Access to Teaching Notes and Materials)

Author: Mary J. Decker, Case Writer; Barton H. (“Buzz”) Thompson, Jr., Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law

Abstract: After an EPA inspector identifies numerous hazardous waste violations at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, EPA files a RCRA administrative enforcement action against another Federal agency, the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service. On behalf of EPA, the students are asked to evaluate a settlement offer from Interior, including a proposed Supplemental Environmental Project (“SEP”), and recommend a counter-settlement demand that includes an appropriate monetary penalty and penalty mitigation percentage based on the SEP.

Key Words: Hazardous waste, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, RCRA, administrative enforcement, national parks, administrative complaint, penalty calculation, supplemental environmental projects, SEPs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Hawaii.