Environmental Law: Groundwater Pollution; MTBE Court Jurisdiction, Procedure and Review: Remand to State Court

摘要

In this part of the MDL case involving alleged MTBE pollution of groundwater sources, the plaintiff in the Quincy Community Services District action seeks remand of its case back to state court in light of the Second Circuit decision in In re Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ("MTBE") Products Liability Litigation, 488 E3d 112,164 0.&G.R. 1205 (2d Cir. 2007). QCSD is a special district that owns and operates a public drinking water system. It argues that under uie Second Circuit decision, it too like the States, exercises police or regulatory power that takes it out of the bankruptcy removal statute. But the court finds that QSCD does not have the underlying police and/or regulatory powers as do the States so that the Second Circuit rationale does not apply to it. While QSCD does possess some corporate and taxing powers it does not have the full panoply of what is generally considered the police power; namely the power to adopt regulations dealing with the public health, safety, morals and general welfare. It further finds that the action was properly removed in the first place under the bankruptcy removal provisions. The court also chooses not to abstain from exercising its jurisdiction because it believes that the multi-district litigation forum is the forum best suited to handle the range of issues raised by the various parties due to the alleged contamination of groundwater supplies by producers, suppliers and transporters of MTBE.