US Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared inclined to shield a unit of British oil major BP from claims seeking a more extensive cleanup of a Superfund hazardous waste site in Montana than what federal environmental officials had ordered.
The nine justices heard arguments in an appeal by Atlantic Richfield of a Montana state court ruling allowing a group of private landowners within the sprawling site of its former Anaconda copper smelter in western Montana to bring their claims for restoration damages to trial.