Source: http://openjurist.org/541/f2d/119
Timestamp: 2015-11-27 03:24:29
Document Index: 632481925

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1251', '§ 1342', '§ 505', '§ 1365', '§ 309', '§ 1319', '§ 1365', '§ 505', '§ 1365', '§ 505']

541 F2d 119 Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States Veterans Administration | OpenJurist
541 F. 2d 119 - Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States Veterans Administration HomeFederal Reporter, Second Series 541 F.2d.
541 F2d 119 Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States Veterans Administration 541 F.2d 119
9 ERC 1507, 6 Envtl. L. Rep. 20,666
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Plaintiff-Appellant,v.UNITED STATES VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, Defendant-Appellee.
Heard May 4, 1976.Decided Aug. 26, 1976.
Charles Corkin, II, Chief, Environmental Protection Division, Dept. of the Atty. Gen., Boston, Mass., with whom Anton T. Moehrke, Asst. Atty. Gen., Environmental Protection Division, Boston, Mass., was on brief, for plaintiff-appellant.
Neil T. Proto, Atty., Dept. of Justice, with whom Peter R. Taft, Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D. C., James N. Gabriel, U. S. Atty., William A. Brown, Asst. U. S. Atty., Boston, Mass., Jacques B. Gelin, and Douglas K. Miller, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for defendant-appellee.
This case involves the jurisdiction of federal district courts over suits alleging violations of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. (FWPCA). The Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed a complaint in the district court for the District of Massachusetts alleging that the Veterans Administration Hospital located in Bedford, Massachusetts, had violated the conditions of its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, 33 U.S.C. § 1342, issued in March, 1975. That permit allowed the continued discharge of effluents for a limited period into Potash Brook, a tributary of the Shawsheen River, a navigable body of water in the Commonwealth. It also included a timetable for the hospital's planned tie-in to the municipal sewage system of the town of Bedford. The Veterans Administration concedes that the hospital failed to comply with the deadlines imposed for submission of final plans for the sewer "tie-in" and, therefore, technically violated the conditions of the permit.
On June 12, 1975, the Attorney General of Massachusetts mailed to the VA and the EPA a notice of intent to file suit against the hospital for violation of the conditions of the NPDES permit. On July 22, 1975, the Commonwealth filed its complaint in this case, invoking jurisdiction under § 505(a) of the FWPCA, 33 U.S.C. § 1365(a), praying that the district court assess a civil penalty of $10,000 per day under § 309(d) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1319(d), and seeking such other relief as the court might deem just. As only forty days had elapsed between the notice of intent and the commencement of this action, the district court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. 33 U.S.C. § 1365(b).
Section 505(a) provides both a right of action, and relaxed jurisdictional requirements for citizens' suits seeking to enforce specified provisions of the FWPCA.1 The section, however, imposes a separate limitation, embodied in § 505(b)(1), 33 U.S.C. § 1365(b)(1), which provides that "no action may be commenced (1) under (505(a)(1)) (A) prior to sixty days after the plaintiff has given notice of the alleged violation . . . ." Because the instant suit was filed prematurely, and has not been cured by a supplemental complaint, Montgomery Environmental Coalition v. Fri, 366 F.Supp. 261 (D.D.C.1973), it failed to meet the statutory criteria for federal court jurisdiction under § 505(a). City of Highland Park v. Train, 519 F.2d 681 (7th Cir. 1975) (air);2 NRDC v. Train, 166 U.S.App.D.C. 312, 510 F.2d 692 (197