By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/Arizona Capitol Times
A ruling Monday from the U.S. Supreme Court could make it harder for state environmental officials to reach settlements with some polluters to clean up hazardous waste sites.
Without comment the justices upheld a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a trial judge did not properly examine deals the Department of Environmental Quality reached with 22 polluters. The divided appellate court rejected arguments the judge could simply defer to DEQ’s opinion of what was fair.