Miami-Dade County sued the federal government for environmental cleanup costs at Miami International Airport under CERCLA. The court found the U.S. liable as a former owner (1942-1948) and lessee (1948-1966) of the airport. The court ordered the U.S. to pay an equitable share of environmental remediation costs. This matters to subcontractors because it clarifies that government entities can be held responsible for contamination on properties they previously controlled, which affects liability allocation on airport and federal facility projects.
Former owners and long-term lessees of contaminated property can be held liable for cleanup costs even decades after leaving the site—verify environmental history before bidding federal projects