Source: http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/430/1337/505400/
Timestamp: 2013-05-22 20:49:56
Document Index: 14404948

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 110', '§ 51', '§ 51', '§ 7410', '§ 304', '§ 110', '§ 7602', '§ 7602', '§ 51', '§ 52', '§ 304', '§ 7604', '§ 7413', '§ 113', '§ 304', '§ 113', '§ 7413', '§ 6972']

430 F.3d 1337: Sierra Club, Alabama Environmental Council, Inc., Plaintiffs-appellants, v. Tennessee Valley Authority, Defendant-appellee :: US Court of Appeals Cases :: Justia
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430 F.3d 1337: Sierra Club, Alabama Environmental Council, Inc., Plaintiffs-appellants, v. Tennessee Valley Authority, Defendant-appellee
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. - 430 F.3d 1337
The 2% de minimis rule was not officially adopted as part of the ADEM regulations until October 2003, more than one year after the Sierra Club filed this lawsuit. Before formally adopting the rule in October 2003 and submitting it to EPA as a SIP revision, ADEM followed the rule in practice. It is the rule as an ADEM "practice" &#x2014; instead of the later, formal embodiment of it as a regulation &#x2014; that is at issue in this case. The rule is not &#x2014; and has never been &#x2014; a part of the Alabama SIP, because EPA has never approved it.
The 2% de minimis rule effectively revises the opacity limitation contained in the SIP &#x2014; a revision by any other name is still a revision &#x2014; and an unapproved revision of any part of a SIP is invalid under § 110(i) of the Clean Air Act. See Train v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 421 U.S. 60, 92, 95 S.Ct. 1470, 1488, 43 L.Ed.2d 731 (1975) ("[A] polluter is subject to existing requirements until such time as he obtains a variance, and variances are not available under the revision authority until they have been approved by both the State and the Agency."); United States v. Ford Motor Co., 814 F.2d 1099, 1103 (6th Cir.1987) (holding that "invalidation of a SIP on technical grounds by a state court... cannot be given effect, because ... revisions and variances of properly promulgated SIPs require EPA approval"); 40 C.F.R. § 51.105 ("Revisions of a plan, or any portion thereof, will not be considered part of an applicable plan until such revisions have been approved by [EPA] in accordance with this part.").
ADEM's 2% de minimis rule is an attempt to unilaterally revise the opacity limitation without submitting the revision to the rigors of the SIP amendment process. What was missed by this unilateral revision or "interpretation" approach is illustrated by the procedures employed when ADEM finally started in 2003 &#x2014; long after the conduct relevant to this case had occurred &#x2014; the process necessary to revise the SIP to include the 2% de minimis rule. At that time, as required by 40 C.F.R. § 51.102(a)(1) and 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(1), ADEM held public hearings and accepted public comment (including some from the Sierra Club) on the proposal to add the 2% de minimis rule to the Alabama SIP. Prior to that 2003 proposal, however, ADEM never gave any notice and never held any hearings about the rule that it was informally using to excuse thousands of opacity violations. Moreover, neither ADEM nor TVA has offered any formal documentation of ADEM's "interpretation" of the Alabama SIP to allow for the 2% de minimis rule prior to 2003, other than documents generated after the Sierra Club announced its intention to sue.
Finally, we address the district court's grant of summary judgment to TVA on the Sierra Club's claim for a civil penalty of $27,500 per day on which a violation occurred. Here we are talking about violations that occurred on or after May 20, 1999 because, in light of our holding in the preceding part, they are the only alleged violations left in the case. The issue is whether Congress waived the sovereign immunity of TVA, a federal agency, from liability for punitive fines imposed for past conduct &#x2014; as opposed to coercive fines for ongoing conduct &#x2014; in citizen suits under Clean Air Act § 304.
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, any person may commence a civil action on his own behalf &#x2014; (1) against any person (including (i) the United States, and (ii) any other governmental instrumentality or agency to the extent permitted by the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution) who is alleged to have violated (if there is evidence that the alleged violation has been repeated) or to be in violation of (A) an emission standard or limitation under this chapter or (B) an order issued by the Administrator or a State with respect to such a standard or limitation,
[A]ny citizen may commence a civil action on his own behalf &#x2014;
1 An alternative to Method 9, contained in an EPA regulation, is the use of a mobile "Lidar" ("Laser Radar" or "Light Detection and Ranging") system. The Lidar system generates its own light source and may be used to measure opacity remotely at any time, day or night. 40 C.F.R. Pt. 60, App. A-4, Alt. Method 1. Lidar is operated by an observer on the ground while COMS uses equipment mounted inside the smokestack itself. The Sierra Club describes Lidar as "[a] second method for determining opacity compliance." TVA says that Lidar is not prescribed for use as a compliance test by Alabama's regulations. It does not matter, because everyone agrees that no Lidar data was submitted in this case. For that reason, we will ignore Lidar when we are talking about the regulations and the issues arising from them
2 The prerequisite terms of § 110(i) are clearly met. The Colbert plant is a "stationary source."See 42 U.S.C. § 7602(z). The Alabama SIP is an "applicable implementation plan." See id. § 7602(q).
3 InBonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206 (11th Cir.1981) (en banc), we adopted as binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to October 1, 1981. Id. at 1209.
4 TVA's ADEM-issued air permits reflect these regulatory requirements: TVA must install COMS to measure opacity and include "average and maximum excess emissions over 20% [opacity] computed from six-minute averages" in quarterly reports to ADEM. ADEM Permit No. 701-0010-Z009 at 3
5 This provision was revised along with four other provisions, including 40 C.F.R. § 51.212(c) as noted in Part II. C, above, as part of EPA's Credible Evidence Revisions final rulemaking of February 24, 1997See 62 Fed.Reg. at 8314-28. Revisions were also made to 40 C.F.R. §§ 52.30, 60.11, and 61.12. Credible Evidence Revisions, 62 Fed.Reg. at 8328.
6 Recall that the Alabama credible evidence rule's effective date in the ADEM regulations was May 20, 1999, which is the date that the district court found, and the parties agree, is proper to begin consideration of COMS data to prove opacity violations. However, EPA's approval of the Alabama credible evidence rule took effect January 3, 2000, which is the date the rule became a part of the Alabama SIP. Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans: Revisions to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) Administrative Code for the Air Pollution Control Program, 64 Fed.Reg. at 59,633
7 Section 113 refers to § 304 (which is § 7604(a) of Title 42) only in its provision for "Penalty assessment criteria." 42 U.S.C. § 7413(e)(1)-(2) ("In determining the amount of any penalty to be assessed under this section or section 7604(a) of this title....")
8 Clean Air Act § 113(e)(1) explicitly provides that "any credible evidence" may be used to establish the duration of a violation for purposes of assessing civil penalties in citizen suits under § 304 as well as federal enforcement actions under § 113. 42 U.S.C. § 7413(e)(1). That provision does not mention declaratory and injunctive relief but only civil penalties. Because, as we explain in Part VIII., civil penalties cannot be awarded in this case, that provision of the Act has no bearing on this case
9 The Supreme Court also interpreted the citizen suit provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6972(a); however, because the two provisions were so similar, the Court used the same analysis for bothDep't of Energy v. Ohio, 503 U.S. at 615-18, 112 S.Ct. at 1633-35.