(a) Discovery shall be in accordance with this section and § 304.31 of this part.
(b) Within thirty days after receipt of the notice of appointment of the Arbitrator (see § 304.22 of this part), EPA shall submit to the Arbitrator two copies of a written statement and shall serve a copy of the written statement upon all other parties. The written statement shall in all cases include the information requested in paragraphs (b)(1), (b)(6), and (b)(7) of this section, shall include the information requested in paragraph (b)(2) of this section if the issue of liability of any participating PRP has been submitted for resolution, shall include the information requested in paragraph (b)(3) of this section if any issue concerning the adequacy of EPA's response action has been submitted for resolution or may arise during the Arbitrator's determination of the dollar amount of response costs recoverable by EPA, shall include the information requested in paragraph (b)(4) of this section if the issue of the dollar amount of response costs recoverable by EPA has been submitted for resolution, and shall include the information requested in paragraph (b)(5) of this section if any issue concerning allocation of liability for payment of EPA's award has been submitted for resolution.
(1) A statement of facts, including a description of the facility, the EPA response action taken at the facility, the response costs incurred and to be incurred by the United States in connection with the response action taken at the facility, and the parties;
(2) A description of the evidence in support of the following four elements of liability of the participating PRP(s) whose liability pursuant to section 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607(a), is at issue, and any supporting documentation therefor:
(i) The site at which EPA's response action was taken is a facility as defined by section 101(9) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9601(9);
(ii) There was a release or threat of release within the meaning of sections 101(22) and 104(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9601(22) and 9604(a), of a hazardous substance as defined by section 101(14) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C 9601(14), at the facility at which EPA's response action was taken;
(iii) The release or threat of release caused the United States to incur response costs as defined in § 304.12(o) of this part; and
(iv) The participating PRP is in one of the categories of liable parties in section 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607(a);
(3) An index of any documents which formed the basis for the selection of the response action taken at the facility (all indexed documents shall be made available to any participating PRP);
(4) A summary, broken down by category, of all response costs incurred and to be incurred by the United States in connection with the response action taken by EPA at the facility (supporting documentation for the summary shall be made available to any participating PRP pursuant to the procedures described in Rule 1006 of the Federal Rules of Evidence);
(5) To the extent such information is available, the names and addresses of all identified PRPs for the facility, the volume and nature of the substances contributed to the facility by each identified PRP, and a ranking by volume of the substances contributed to the facility;
(6) A recommended location for the pre-hearing conference and the arbitral hearing; and
(7) Any other statement or documentation that EPA deems necessary to support its claim.
(c) Within thirty days after receipt of EPA's written statement, each participating PRP shall submit to the Arbitrator two copies of an answer and shall serve a copy of the answer upon all other parties. The answer shall in all cases include the information requested in paragraphs (c)(1), (c)(6), and (c)(7) of this section, shall include the information requested in paragraph (c)(2) of this section if the issue of the liability of the answering participating PRP has been submitted for resolution, shall include the information requested in paragraph (c)(3) of this section if any issue concerning the adequacy of EPA's response action has been submitted for resolution or may arise during the Arbitrator's determination of the dollar amount of response costs recoverable by EPA, shall include the information requested in paragraph (c)(4) of this section if the issue of the dollar amount of response costs recoverable by EPA has been submitted for resolution, and shall include the information requested in paragraph (c)(5) of this section if any issue concerning the allocation of responsibility for payment of EPA's award has been submitted for resolution:
(1) Any objections to the statement of facts in EPA's written statement, and, if so, a counterstatement of facts;
(2) Any objections to EPA's position on the liability of the answering participating PRP pursuant to section 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607(a), a description of the evidence in support of the defenses to liability of the answering participating PRP which are specifically enumerated in section 107(b) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607(b) (i.e., that the release or threat of release of a hazardous substance at the facility was caused solely by an act of God, an act of war, an act or omission of an unrelated third party, or any combination thereof), and any supporting documentation thereof;
(3) Any objections to the response action taken by EPA at the facility based upon any documents which formed the basis for the selection of the response action;
(4) Any objections to EPA's summary and supporting documentation for all response costs incurred and to be incurred by the United States in connection with the response action taken by EPA at the facility;
(5) Any documentation which the participating PRP deems relevant to the allocation of responsibility for payment of EPA's award.
(6) A recommended location for the pre-hearing conference and the arbitral hearing; and
(7) Any other statement or documentation that the participating PRP deems necessary to support its claim.
(d) EPA may file a response to any participating PRP's answer within twenty days of receipt of such answer. Two copies of any such response shall be served upon the Arbitrator, and a copy of any such response shall be served upon all parties.
(e) If EPA files a response, any participating PRP may file a reply thereto within ten days after receipt of such response. Two copies of any such reply shall be served upon the Arbitrator, and a copy of any such reply shall be served upon all parties.