Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/482/439/419381/
Timestamp: 2020-05-28 18:56:42
Document Index: 100041510

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 407', '§ 407', '§ 1151', '§ 1160', '§ 1174', '§ 1171', '§ 404', '§ 406', '§ 419', '§ 1171', '§ 403', '§ 407', '§ 407', '§ 411', '§ 441', '§ 441', '§ 407', '§ 411', '§ 407', '§ 1251', '§ 419']

United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. United States Steel Corporation, Defendant-appellant, 482 F.2d 439 (7th Cir. 1973) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Seventh Circuit › 1973 › United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. United States Steel Corporation, Defendant-appellan...
United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. United States Steel Corporation, Defendant-appellant, 482 F.2d 439 (7th Cir. 1973)
US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit - 482 F.2d 439 (7th Cir. 1973) Heard Feb. 16, 1973Decided May 11, 1973. Rehearing Denied June 8, 1973. Certiorari Denied Oct. 15, 1973. See 94 S. Ct. 229
This criminal prosecution was based upon a 2-count information alleging violations of Sections 13 and 16 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. §§ 407 and 411). Count I alleged that defendant discharged refuse matter from a drainpipe into the east branch of the Grand Calumet River on October 11, 1967. Count II alleged that the defendant deposited refuse matter from another drainpipe into the same river on the same date. The refuse matter described in Count I consisted of a "red-brown particulate sediment" and in Count II, of an "oily substance." After a jury verdict of guilty, the district court assessed the maximum fine of $2,500 on each count, and defendant has appealed from the judgment imposing those fines. The district court's memorandum opinion is reported at 328 F. Supp. 354 (N. D. Ind. 1970).
"It shall not be lawful to throw, discharge, or deposit, or cause, suffer, or procure to be thrown, discharged, or deposited either from or out of any ship, barge, or other floating craft of any kind, or from the shore, wharf, manufacturing establishment, or mill of any kind, any refuse matter of any kind or description whatever other than that flowing from streets and sewers and passing therefrom in a liquid state, into any navigable water of the United States, or into any tributary of any navigable water from which the same shall float or be washed into such navigable water; and it shall not be lawful to deposit, or cause, suffer or procure to be deposited material of any kind in any place on the bank of any navigable water, or on the bank of any tributary of any navigable water, where the same shall be liable to be washed into such navigable water either by ordinary or high tides, or by storms or floods, or otherwise, whereby navigation shall or may be impeded or obstructed: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall extend to, apply to, or prohibit the operations in connection with the improvement of navigable waters or construction of public works, considered necessary and proper by the United States officers supervising such improvement or public work: And provide further, That the Secretary of the Army, whenever in the judgment of the Chief of Engineers anchorage and navigation will not be injured thereby, may permit the deposit of any material above mentioned in navigable waters, within limits to be defined and under conditions to be prescribed by him, provided application is made to him prior to depositing such material; and whenever any permit is so granted the conditions thereof shall be strictly complied with, and any violation thereof shall be unlawful." (33 U.S.C. § 407)1
Defendant argues that the absence of any explicit qualification in the 1894 Act relating to navigational impairment does not mean that Congress intended to abandon that qualification. It seems true, as defendant suggests, that the 1894 Act was precipitated by the Corps of Engineers' complaint that the 1890 Act was difficult to enforce because it contained no provision for an in rem proceeding against a vessel or for liability of the master or engineer; the 1890 Act applied only to persons or corporations owning the vessel.5 In response, Congress drew on Sections 2 and 4 of the 1888 New York Harbor Act in enacting Sections 7 and 8 of the 1894 Act to supply the lacking features. However, it also borrowed from the New York Harbor Act to enact the substantive provision of the 1894 Act, Section 6, quoted in part above. It has been suggested that this was "redundant" because the Corps only sought additional liability provisions and the 1890 Act had already delineated the substantive offense.6 Moreover, since the 1894 Act was appended to the annual river and harbor appropriation bill, it is suggested that there was a limited opportunity for debate and Congress was assured that the bill only prevented discharges which would affect navigation.7 Although this is all very plausible, it is not a truly satisfactory basis for assuming Congressional oversight of the differences between the 1890 and 1894 statutes. Most probably Congress was primarily concerned with protecting the navigability of navigable waterways, but that is not to say it was exclusively so concerned. As the Supreme Court has said, "* * * the 'serious injury' to our watercourses * * * sought to be remedied was caused in part by obstacles that impeded navigation and in part by pollution * * *." United States v. Standard Oil Co., 384 U.S. 224, 228-229, 86 S. Ct. 1427, 1429, 16 L. Ed. 2d 492. But even if Congress was solely preoccupied with protecting navigability, that would not negate Congressional resolve to forbid the discharges of the listed and other foreign substances regardless of their apparent effect on navigation unless specially permitted. To say that Congress was concerned with protecting navigation is not determinative of the scope of the measures Congress took to effect that protection.
In 1896 the Attorney General construed Section 6 of the 1894 Act "as an absolute prohibition" against the discharge of material which, although conceded to be covered by Section 6, would not have affected navigability. 21 Opinions of the Attorney General 305, 307. The "ore washings" involved, however, would have "destroy [ed] the fish, pollute [d] the water so as to destroy its usefulness for domestic purposes, and injure [d] the scenery along the stream." Id. at 306. Although the Attorney General opined that the Secretary of War was required to issue a permit under these circumstances, he indicated no doubt about the proposition that a permit had to be applied for and that the Secretary's judgment, rather than the discharger's, about impairment of navigability was controlling.8
Section 13 eliminated the enumeration of substances present in both the 1890 and 1894 Acts, substituting for them and their catch-alls the phrase "any refuse matter of any kind or description whatever." Moreover, as noted previously, the first portion of Section 13 was not modified by the navigation-threatening limitation appearing in the 1890 Act; only the second portion contains that modifier. The absence of the navigational effect limitation in the first portion of Section 13 is best explainable on the basis that Section 6 of the 1894 Act contained no such limitation. Even though the phrase "any refuse matter of any kind or description" must be construed in pari materia with the lists of substances found in the earlier Acts (see United States v. Standard Oil Co., supra at 228-229, 86 S. Ct. 1427), it does not follow that only refuse matter which tends to impede navigation is covered. The enumeration in the 1890 Act ends with the catch-all "or other waste of any kind." If only materials with an inherent tendency to impede or obstruct navigation are involved, the modifier "whereby navigation shall or may be impeded or obstructed" is superfluous. The enumeration in the 1894 Act ends with the broader catch-all "or any other matter of any kind." The use of "any other matter of any kind" militates against an overly strict ejusdem generis construction, but in any event, it is obvious that not every discharge of the enumerated substances will tend to affect navigation. For instance, the discharge of "acid" is prohibited, but not every acid will be capable of corroding wharves or ships' hulls.11 Yet a discharge of any acid without prior approval of the Secretary of War would certainly seem to be squarely in the teeth of the statutory prohibition.
Defendant also relies on the administrative interpretation of Section 13 as establishing that the officials charged with the administering of the Act did not believe that it applied to discharges which had no navigational effect. It asks us to "give great weight" to the administrative interpretation in determining the scope of the statute. In effect from 1965 through December 1968, the only regulation pertaining to Section 13 was 33 C.F.R. Sec. 209.395 (1967).12 But that regulation recites the statutory proscription of deposits in navigable waters of "refuse matter of any kind or description whatever" other than sewage. Although it states that the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army "is limited and directed to such control as may be necessary to protect the public right of navigation" (emphasis supplied), it does not purport to construe Section 13 as allowing, without permission, discharges of refuse matter which the discharger has determined to have no tendency to affect navigation. It does not suggest that the Secretary of the Army's determination of no navigational effect need not be interposed before any discharge of refuse matter is permissible. Furthermore, it states that the Department has directed "action" under Section 13 only "principally" against the discharge of those materials obstructive of or injurious to navigation. This regulation hardly amounts to an administrative interpretation that discharges such as defendant's are ab initio outside the reach of the statute's prohibition. The same is true of the 1968 amendment defendant relies on (33 C.F.R. Sec. 209.200(c) (2).)13
Moreover, in addition to the facial frailty of these regulations as support for defendant's position, earlier court decisions had interpreted the first offense created by Section 13 to have no navigational effect limitation. La Merced, 84 F.2d 444 (9th Cir. 1936); United States v. Ballard Oil Co., 195 F.2d 369 (2d Cir. 1952); see also United States v. Republic Steel Corp., 362 U.S. 482, 490-491, 80 S. Ct. 884, 4 L. Ed. 2d 903. Even if these regulations could be interpreted as defendant would like, administrative interpretation is entitled to little weight in the face of contrary judicial construction.
In sum, we conclude that what defendant characterizes as "pure dicta" in United States v. Standard Oil Co., 384 U.S. 224, 230, 86 S. Ct. 1427, 1430, 16 L. Ed. 2d 492, was not ill-considered. There the Supreme Court stated that as used in Section 13 of the Refuse Act of 1899, " [t]he word 'refuse' includes all foreign substances and pollutants apart from those 'flowing from streets and sewers and passing therefrom in a liquid state' into the watercourse." We so hold in accord with our sister Circuits which have faced the same question. United States v. Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corp., 461 F.2d 468, 471 (3rd Cir. 1972), certiorari granted, 409 U.S. 1074, 93 S. Ct. 689, 34 L. Ed. 2d 662; United States v. Ballard Oil Co., 195 F.2d 369, 371 (2d Cir. 1951); La Merced, 84 F.2d 444, 446 (9th Cir. 1936).14
Defendant contends that the Refuse Act of 1899 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, as amended at the time of the discharges in question by The Water Quality Act of 1965,15 (particularly 33 U.S.C. §§ 1151 and 1160), must be accommodated. First it argues that together they mean "that the Corps of Engineers should continue to have the power to deal with the dumping of waste matter having the potential to affect navigation under Sec. 407 [Section 13 of the 1899 Act], while the problem of water pollution generally is to be dealt with through resort to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended." Alternatively defendant contends that those discharges of effluent industrial waste which do not violate the applicable Federal Water Quality Standards and Implementation Plan should be considered outside the purview of "refuse matter" in the 1899 Act.
We do not see the necessity for any accommodation. The two statutes are not irreconcilable if the coverage of the Refuse Act of 1899 extends to discharges of pollutant refuse matter, as we have determined it does. Cf. Askew v. American Waterways Operators, 411 U.S. 325, 93 S. Ct. 1590, 36 L. Ed. 2d 280. Had defendant secured a discharge permit, it could not have been in violation of the 1899 Act, and any pollution abatement recourse the Government would have had would only be under 33 U.S.C. § 1160. True, compliance with federal water quality standards developed under the amended Federal Water Pollution Control Act would not immunize defendant from prosecution for discharges without a permit under the 1899 Act. However, " [i]t is crucial to note that beginning with the Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, Congress has on four separate occasions in the past 24 years specifically stated that section 407 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, banning 'any refuse matter,' was not affected by the subsequent legislation." United States v. Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corp., supra, 461 F.2d at 472-473. See 33 U.S.C. § 1174. It may be hypothesized that Congress was unaware of the scope of the Refuse Act of 1899 when it consistently preserved its vitality, but in view of the Act's all-encompassing language and the existence of the early La Merced and Ballard Oil Co. decisions, as well as the Standard Oil Co. pronouncement prior to the latest preservation in 1970, this is a doubtful hypothesis. The Third Circuit has pointed out the Acts' consistency on the assumption that they "were designed to accomplish what may be viewed as the same end by different means." United States v. Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corp., supra at 473. But even if when enacting and amending the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 while preserving the Refuse Act of 1899 Congress saw the latter as a "navigational statute," that hardly means Congress thought pollutant discharges were outside of the Refuse Act's embrace. On the contrray, it would seem that explicitly preserving the 1899 Act's vitality in the context of anti-pollution legislation manifests recognition of the statutes' overlapping coverage. Notably in 1970 Congress directed the Secretary of the Army not to issue any permit unless applicable water quality standards were complied with. 33 U.S.C. § 1171(b) (1). Of course, it is foolhardy to purport to be able always to divine the intentions and assumptions of Congress. But we perceive no conflict so irreducible or evidence of Congressional intent so strong as to nullify application of "the cardinal rule that repeals [of legislation] by implication are not favored." Id. quoting from Lynch v. Household Finance Corp., 405 U.S. 538, 549, 92 S. Ct. 1113, 1120, 31 L. Ed. 2d 424.
However, Section 13 does not speak in terms of a regulatory permit program. Straightforwardly it provides that upon prior application the "Secretary of the Army * * * may permit the deposit of any material above mentioned in navigable waters * * *." Section 13 may be contrasted with Section 11 (33 U.S.C. § 404) which specifically contemplates, though does not mandate, a regulatory program. See 33 U.S.C. § 406. And, even under the authority of Section 4 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1905, 33 U.S.C. § 419, "the establishing of a permit program by the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of the Corps of Engineers is discretionary with them as opposed to mandatory."16 Bass Anglers Sportman Soc'y v. United States Steel Corp., 324 F. Supp. 412, 416 (S.D., M.D. & N.D. Ala. 1971), affirmed, 447 F.2d 1304 (5th Cir. 1971). If defendant's argument is correct, then it would follow that the discharge of anything-navigation threatening or not-is permissible so long as no permit program has been instituted. This stands the statute on its head. Clearly the statute generally proscribes refuse discharges unless in any instance the Secretary of the Army has exercised his discretion to permit it.
Furthermore, the efficacy of the Refuse Act of 1899 is not dependent upon its being construed to embody a formal regulatory program in order to make it compatible with subsequent anti-pollution legislation. After enactment of The Water Quality Act of 1965 allowing discharges which met minimum water quality standards, it could make no difference in terms of the general prohibition of the 1899 Act whether the Secretary of the Army determined the effect of a proposed discharge on navigation on an ad hoc basis or pursuant to a formal regulatory permit program. When in 1970 Congress instructed federal licensing or permitting agencies to disapprove proposed discharges which failed to meet applicable water quality standards (33 U.S.C. § 1171(b) (1)), that did not undermine the across-the-board prohibition of refuse matter discharges absent the Secretary's issuance of a permit therefor. And this limitation on the Secretary's permit power is not substantively affected by the manner in which the permit power had theretofore been exercised. Indeed implementation of the water quality restrictions was accomplished through the institution of the Refuse Act Permit Program by Executive Order 11574 in December of 1970,17 but the fact that practical implementation of the 1970 water quality limitations necessitated a formal administrative permit program is not a sufficient reason to say that the previous absence of such a program rendered the general prohibition of the 1899 Act nugatory. Simply put, neither the 1965 nor the 1970 Act created a right to discharge refuse matter which did not theretofore exist.
Defendant would equate the absence of a regulatory permit program with the non-availability of a permit but cannot make that equation balance. Defendant does not contend that it ever applied for a permit and was refused, but rather argues that any application would have been unavailing. However, subsequent to the decision in United States v. Republic Steel Corp., 362 U.S. 482, 80 S. Ct. 884, 4 L. Ed. 2d 903, in May 1960, and prior to the time of defendant's discharges, at least four permits for the discharge of industrial waste were issued, three of which were issued by the Chicago District of the Corps of Engineers-the District having jurisdiction over the Grand Calumet River-to steel producers in the Chicago area allowing the discharge of treated process water into the Calumet River.18 Although these permits were issued as part of the settlement of the Republic Steel Corp., supra, litigation, they militate against indulging in defendant's assumption that a permit application would have been unavailing. This Court has previously recognized the Secretary of the Army's ability to grant a permit on an individual application in the absence of a formal permit program (United States v. Republic Steel Corp., 286 F.2d 875, 879 (7th Cir. 1961)), and we think defendant was not entitled to assume a permit was unavailable. See Poulos v. New Hampshire, 345 U.S. 395, 410 n. 13, 73 S. Ct. 760, 97 L. Ed. 1105.
Defendant asserts that the district court improperly excluded its Exhibits C and D. These exhibits were offered on the issue of navigability and as support for defendant's theory that the Government was, in effect, estopped under pain of due process from claiming the river was navigable. Exhibit C consisted of an April 8, 1969, Army Corps of Engineers public notice listing certain waterways within the Chicago District where the Corps of Engineers exercises "active jurisdiction" against obstructions to navigation and requires work permits under Section 10 of the Refuse Act (33 U.S.C. § 403). The protion of the Grand Calumet River adjacent to defendant's plant is not listed. Exhibit D is a May 9, 1958, public notice of the Army Corps of Engineers showing navigable waters in the Chicago District where the Secretary of the Army's approval is needed for plans for bridges. The span next to the defendant's plant on the Grand Calumet River is not included.
This case was tried on the theory that the Grand Calumet River was navigable in its state of nature and must therefore be deemed navigable thereafter as a matter of law. Economy Light & Power Co. v. United States, 256 U.S. 113, 41 S. Ct. 409, 65 L. Ed. 847; United States v. Appalachian Elec. Power Co., 311 U.S. 377, 408, 61 S. Ct. 291, 85 L. Ed. 243. Defendant does not challenge this legal proposition. The district court correctly excluded Exhibit C because whether the Corps of Engineers exercised control of works on a particular waterway would not be determinative of whether the waterway is navigable in the legal sense. Furthermore, the exhibit was issued in 1969 and did not relate to the navigability of the river at the time of these 1967 offenses and, as the district judge remarked, would "only tend to confuse the jury."
In support of its petition for rehearing defendant argues, in part, that the Supreme Court's recent opinion in United States v. Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corp., 411 U.S. 655, 93 S. Ct. 1804, 36 L. Ed. 2d 567 (1973), requires that defendant have the opportunity to prove that it was affirmatively misled by regulations and other official pronouncements of the Corps of Engineers into believing that 33 U.S.C. § 407 did not apply to its discharges. However, in that case the defendant offered to prove at trial that it relied in good faith on 33 C.F.R. Sec. 209.395 (1966) and 33 C.F.R. Sec. 209.200(e) (2) (1969) in concluding its discharges were permissible under law, and it raised the exclusion of such proof as an issue on appeal. Here, in contrast, although defendant invokes the same regulations, it has pointed to no attempt in the trial below to prove that it actually relied upon them in making its discharges,* and on appeal defendant utilized those regulations solely in an effort to establish an administrative interpretation to which, it argued, the Court should give great weight in construing 33 U.S.C. § 407. It did not argue that it had relied on these regulations in discharging the refuse matter, nor did it argue that any proof of reliance thereon was submitted and improperly excluded below. Insofar as Exhibits C and D are concerned, for the reasons set forth in the Court's opinion, their exclusion from evidence was justified. Had they been admitted, they could not have formed a sufficient basis to justify reasonable reliance, as the district court indicated in its ruling.
For violations of Section 13, Section 16 of this statute imposes fines from $500 to $2500 or imprisonment for 30 days to a year or both. (33 U.S.C. § 411)
See United States v. Republic Steel Corp., 362 U.S. 482, 490, 80 S. Ct. 884, 4 L. Ed. 2d 903
This exception had its genesis in an 1888 Act relating to discharges into New York Harbor (25 Stat. 209, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 441). It is found in Section 6 of the Rivers and harbors Act of 1894 (28 Stat. 363), which is drawn from the 1888 Act, and was carried through to Section 13 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The district court observed it would be anomalous to have an exception for refuse matter "flowing from streets and sewers and passing therefrom in a liquid state" if the statute was aimed solely at materials which obstructed navigation because the excepted matter had no apparent tendency to obstruct navigation in the first place. 328 F. Supp. at 357. Of course, sewage "may contain some articles in suspension that settle out and potentially impair navigability." United States v. Republic Steel Corp., supra 362 U.S. at 491, 80 S. Ct. at 889, but permanent shoaling only occurs "in a few instances" and generally the suspended organic matter will decompose and pose no problem. Id. at n. 6. The exception addresses matter which typically will not affect navigability, but, on the other hand, does not exempt from a class of possibly obstructing material only that which could not impair navigation since it excepts all "liquid" sewage discharges.
25 Stat. 209, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 441
The Attorney General's view that the Secretary's discretion extended only to considerations affecting navigability was premised on a restrictive interpretation of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause. However, that interpretation was not universally espoused even at the turn of the century (see Scow No. 36, 144 F. 932, 934 (1st Cir. 1906)) and, although likely, it was not necessarily that of the Fifty-third Congress. In any event, this restrictive interpretation is no longer viable; Congress does have the underlying power enabling the Secretary of the Army to decline to issue a permit on ecological grounds. See, e. g., Zabel v. Tabb, 430 F.2d 199, 203-204 (5th Cir. 1970); Kalur v. Resor, 335 F. Supp. 1, 11-13 (D.D.C. 1971)
United States v. Standard Oil Co., 384 U.S. 224, 227, 86 S. Ct. 1427, 16 L. Ed. 2d 492
"Section 13 of the River and Harbor Act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1152; 33 U.S.C. 407) authorizes the Secretary of the Army to permit the deposit of refuse matter in navigable waters, whenever in the judgment of the Chief of Engineers anchorage and navigation will not be injured thereby, within limits to be defined and under conditions to be prescribed by him. Although the Department has exercised this authority from time to time, it is considered preferable to act under Section 4 of the River and Harbor Act of March 3, 1905 (33 Stat. 1147; 33 U.S.C. 419). As a means of assisting the Chief of Engineers in determining the effect on anchorage of vessels, the views of the U.S. Coast Guard will be solicited by coordination with the Commander of the local Coast Guard District." 33 C.F.R. Sec. 209.200(e) (2).
Defendant relies on dicta in Guthrie v. Alabama By-Products Co., 328 F. Supp. 1140 (N.D. Ala. 1971), affirmed, 456 F.2d 1294 (5th Cir. 1972), which held that 33 U.S.C. § 407 did not create a federal cause of action in favor of private plaintiffs claiming pollution damage to their riparian lands. It did not focus on the issue here. Bass Angler Sportsman Soc'y v. United States Steel Corp., 324 F. Supp. 412 (S.D.M.D. & N.D. Ala. 1971), affirmed, 447 F.2d 1304 (5th Cir. 1971), also relied on by defendant, held that no "qui tam" action to recover fines imposable under 33 U.S.C. § 411 for violations of 33 U.S.C. § 407 could be maintained. This holding is not revelant to the present issue. See Jacklovich v. Interlake, Inc., 458 F.2d 923 (7th Cir. 1972). Finally, defendant adverts to Kalur v. Resor, 335 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1971), which held that the Secretary of the Army's permit regulations of April 7, 1971, 33 C.F.R. Sec. 209.131, were beyond statutory authorization insofar as they covered non-navigable tributaries. Its holding is likewise not relevant here
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 underwent further amendment in 1966 (80 Stat. 1246), but that amendment is immaterial here. Subsequent to the discharges in question, the Act was again amended in 1970 (84 Stat. 91), and was thoroughly revised in 1972. See 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq
33 U.S.C. § 419 provides, in pertinent part: