Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
4/17/2015
Waste Controls Specialists filed a motion this week to throw out the anti-trust lawsuit brought against the company by EnergySolutions for refusing to dispose of the company’s down-blended Class B and C low-level radioactive waste. WCS states in its motion that it has the right to refuse to deal with whomever it chooses and that there is no antitrust “duty to deal” on terms demanded by competitors. “The antitrust laws are designed to encourage competition between rivals—and to discourage them from cooperating with each other,” the motion said. “It is highly unusual and legally defective for ES on the one hand to allege that it competes with WCS for the disposal of LLRW, and on the other hand to petition this Court to force WCS to cooperate with ES. The Counterclaim does not allege that WCS ever contracted with ES to dispose of LLRW, and the antitrust laws do not require WCS to start. There is simply no requirement for WCS to “lend a helping hand” to its rival.”
Following the sale of Studsvik’s portion of the Semprasafe joint venture to EnergySolutions last year, WCS sought to terminate the contract it had held with Studsvik and told customers it would no longer accept waste from the EnergySolutions facility. EnergySolutions threatened legal recourse for behavior it deemed “anti-competitive” because of WCS’ control of Class B and C disposal. EnergySolutions has argued that by refusing to enter into a business agreement to dispose of its down-blended material its harms competition in the relevant market while also hurting EnergySolutions’ business interest.
According to EnergySolutions lawsuit, “With flagrant anticompetitive intent, WCS also has been telling EnergySolutions’ customers that WCS intends to end its relationship with Erwin ResinSolutions, LLC and EnergySolutions,” EnergySolutions alleged in the filing. “WCS deliberately encouraged those customers not to conduct business with EnergySolutions, knowing that EnergySolutions is a smaller rival that is able to compete in the purchase of Class B and C waste through down-blending. It is clear that WCS’s intent in making these communications was to make it impossible for EnergySolutions to continue its downblending activities, thereby protecting the fruits of its monopoly position in Class B and C waste disposal.”