Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-984.ZO.html
Timestamp: 2013-12-19 04:03:11
Document Index: 489227819

Matched Legal Cases: ['§404', '§1344', '§404', '§1342', '§232', '§404', '§402', '§402', '§402', '§306', '§1316', '§402', '§122', '§402', '§404', '§301', '§307', '§403', '§404', '§306', '§306', '§402', '§402', '§306', '§402', '§1342', '§306', '§404', '§306', '§402', '§306', '§404', '§306', '§306', '§306', '§404', '§306', '§122', '§402']

With regard to the first question, §404(a) of the CWA grants the Corps the power to “issue permits … for the discharge of … fill material.” 86 Stat.
884; 33 U. S. C. §1344(a). But the EPA also has authority to issue permits for the discharge of pollutants. Section 402 of the Act grants the EPA authority to “issue a permit for the discharge of any pollutant” “[e]xcept as provided in” §404. 33 U. S. C. §1342(a). We conclude that because the slurry Coeur Alaska wishes to discharge is defined by regulation as “fill material,” 40 CFR §232.2 (2008), Coeur Alaska properly obtained its permit from the Corps of Engineers, under §404, rather than from the EPA, under §402.
Applying that standard to the discharge of water from Lower Slate Lake into the downstream creek, the EPA’s §402 permit sets strict limits on the amount of pollutants the water may contain. The permit requires Coeur Alaska to treat the water using “reverse osmosis” to remove aluminum, suspended solids, and other pollutants. App. 298a; id., at 304a. Coeur Alaska must monitor the water flowing from the lake to be sure that the pollutants are kept to low, specified minimums. Id., at326a–330a.
SEACC brought suit against the Corps of Engineers and various of its officials in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. The Corps permit was not in accordance with law, SEACC argued, for two reasons. First, in SEACC’s view, the permit was issued by the wrong agency—Coeur Alaska ought to have sought a §402 permit from the EPA, just as the company did for the discharge of water from the lake into the downstream creek. See Part I–B–2, supra. Second, SEACC contended that regardless of which agency issued the permit, the discharge itself is unlawful because it will violate the EPA new source performance standard for froth-flotation gold mines. (This is the same performance standard described above, which the EPA has already applied to the discharge of water from the lake into the downstream creek. See ibid.)SEACC argued that this performance standard also applies to the discharge of slurry into the lake. It contended further that the performance standard is a binding implementation of §306. Section 306(e) of the CWA makes it “unlawful” for Coeur Alaska to “operate” the mine “in violation of” the EPA’s performance standard. 33 U. S. C. §1316(e).
The agencies, however, have interpreted this regulation otherwise. In the agencies’ view the regulation essentially restates the text of §402, and forbids the EPA from issuing permits for discharges that “are regulated under section 404.” 40 CFR §122.3(b); cf. CWA §402(a) (“[e]xcept as provided in … [§404], the Administrator may . . . issue a permit”). Before us, the EPA confirms this reading of the regulation. Brief for Federal Respondents 27. The agency’s interpretation is not “plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation”; and so we accept it as correct. Auer v. Robbins, 519 U. S. 452, 461 (1997)
We address in turn the statutory text of the CWA, the agencies’ regulations construing it, and the EPA’s subsequent interpretation of those regulations. Because Congress has not “directly spoken” to the “precise question” of whether an EPA performance standard applies to discharges of fill material, the statute alone does not resolve the case. Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 842 (1984)
. We look first to the agency regulations, which are entitled to deference if they resolve the ambiguity in a reasonable manner. Ibid.; see United States v. Mead Corp., 533 U. S. 218, 226–227 (2001)
. But the regulations, too, are ambiguous, so we next turn to the agencies’ subsequent interpretation of those regulations. Id., at 234–238; Auer, 519 U. S., at 461. In an internal memorandum the EPA explained that its performance standards do not apply to discharges of fill material. That interpretation is not “plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation[s],” and so we accept it as correct. Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted). Though SEACC contends that the agencies’ interpretation is not entitled to deference because it contradicts the agencies’ published statements and prior practice, we disagree with SEACC’s reading of those statements and of the regulatory record.
Here again, their argument is that silence is significant. Section 404(p) protects the permitee from lawsuits alleging violations of CWA §301 (which bars the discharge of “any pollutant” “except as in compliance” with the Act), §307 (which bars the discharge of “toxic pollutants”); and §403 (which bars discharges into the sea). But §404(p) does notin express terms protect the permitee from a lawsuit alleging a violation of §306(e) or of the EPA’s new source performance standards. Section 404(p)’s silence regarding §306 is made even more significant because a parallel provision in §402 does protect a §402 permitee from an enforcement action alleging a violation of §306. CWA §402(k), 33 U. S. C. §1342(k). In our view, Congress’ omission of §306 from §404, and its inclusion of §306 in §402(k), is evidence that Congress did not intend §306(e) to apply to Corps §404 permits or to discharges of fill material. If §306 did apply, then the Corps would be required to evaluate each permit application for compliance with §306, and issue a permit only if it found the discharge would comply with §306. But even if that finding were made, it is not clear that the §404 permitee would be protected from a suit seeking a judicial determination that the discharge violates §306.
The regulation that the Memorandum cites—
40 CFR §122.3—is one we considered above and found ambiguous. That regulation provides: “[d]ischarges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States which are regulated under section 404 of CWA” “do not require [§402] permits.” The Regas Memorandum takes an instructive interpretive step when it explains that because the discharge “do[es] not require” an EPA permit, ibid., the EPA’s performance standard “do[es] not apply” to the discharge. App. 145a. The Memorandum presents a reasonable interpretation of the regulatory regime. We defer to the interpretation because it is not “plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation[s].” Auer, supra, at 461 (internal quotation marks omitted). Five factors inform that conclusion.
“[A] pollutant (other than dredged material) will normally be considered by EPA and the Corps to be subject to section 402 if it is a discharge in liquid, semi-liquid, or suspended form or if it is a discharge of solid material of a homogeneous nature normally associated with single industry wastes . . . . These materials include placer mining wastes, phosphate mining wastes, titanium mining wastes, sand and gravel wastes, fly ash, and drilling muds. As appropriate, EPA and the Corps will identify additional such materials.”51 Fed. Reg. 8872.