Source: https://openjurist.org/264/f2d/289/united-states-v-republic-steel-corporation
Timestamp: 2017-08-23 01:35:52
Document Index: 455668389

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 12', '§ 406', '§ 9', '§ 401', '§ 9', '§ 10', '§ 403', '§ 406', '§ 10', '§ 403']

264 F. 2d 289 - United States v. Republic Steel Corporation
264 F2d 289 United States v. Republic Steel Corporation
264 F.2d 289
INTERLAKE IRON CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant.
The government makes an appealing argument that any obstacle to navigation in the Calumet River should be removed at the expense of its creator and not at that of the government. Such argument might appropriately be made to Congress, but it is of little, if any, aid in construing the enactment before us. It must not be overlooked that the sections of the statute in controversy have remained as enacted for a period of almost sixty years, and that they should be construed in the light of the facts and circumstances then existing. Great Northern Railway Co. v. United States, 315 U.S. 262, 273, 62 S.Ct. 529, 86 L.Ed. 836; United States v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., 278 U.S. 269, 278, 49 S.Ct. 133, 73 L.Ed. 322. Congress no doubt possesses the power to protect navigable waters of the country, which it can exercise by its own enactments or by delegation of authority to the War Department and the Corps of Army Engineers. In dealing with navigable rights, Congress must take into consideration the interests of those who own and possess riparian rights. We apprehend that drawing the line between the two interests, that is, those of navigation and the riparian land owner, is difficult. That must have been so when the sections in controversy were enacted in 1899, and, considering the growth and development of the country, even more so today.
"As to this, the only section of the later Act which contains injunctive provisions possibly applicable here is § 12, 33 U.S.C.A. § 406. The injunctive power so provided is expressly limited to `the removal of any structures or parts of structures erected in violation of the provisions of' §§ 9, 10 and 11 of the 1899 Act. 33 U.S.C.A. §§ 401, 403 and 404. Clearly, our sunken barge is not a structure prohibited by §§ 9 and 11 which were concerned with bridges, dams, piers, wharves, etc. Nor, we hold, was it a `structure' as denounced in § 10, 33 U.S.C.A. § 403. In re Eastern Transportation Co., D.C., 102 F.Supp. 913. That section prohibits, first, `The creation of any [unauthorized] obstruction * * * to the navigable capacity' of United States waters, and, second, the building of `any wharf, pier, dolphin, boom, weir, breakwater, bulkhead, jetty, or other structures' in any port, etc. (Emphasis supplied.) It thus makes a plain distinction between `obstructions' and `structures.' Section 12, 33 U.S.C.A. § 406, deliberately we think, restricts its injunctive power to `structures' and thereby excluded from its injunctive scope the `obstructions' denounced by § 10, 33 U.S.C.A. § 403."
Assuming that defendants' activities result in an obstruction in fact, it does not follow that it is an obstruction in contemplation of law. State of Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Co., 18 How. 421, 430, 432, 59 U.S. 421, 430, 432, 15 L.Ed. 435, 437; United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Co., 229 U.S. 53, 64, 33 S.Ct. 667, 57 L.Ed. 1063. The government's contention that the deposit of material in the Calumet River constitutes an obstruction in contemplation of law, that is, in violation of Sec. 403, is inconsistent with the relief sought and that granted because the government sought and obtained an injunction preventing the deposit complained of without a permit from the Department of the Army and requiring its removal in a manner satisfactory to the same governmental agency. Congress did not give the Army or its Engineers authority to authorize, sanction or recommend an obstruction which it had prohibited. Such was made lawful only when "affirmatively authorized by Congress." If the words, "any obstruction," are given their broad, inclusive scope, which the government would have us do, there would be no reason for the second and third clauses of Sec. 403. For that matter, there would be no reason for Sec. 407. Everything which might constitute an obstruction in fact would also constitute an obstruction in contemplation of law and could be lawful only when "affirmatively authorized by Congress."
The court, in State of Wisconsin v. State of Illinois, 278 U.S. 367, 49 S.Ct. 163, 73 L.Ed. 426, must have had this thought in mind. Referring to Sec. 10 (403) the court stated (278 U.S. at page 413, 49 S.Ct. at page 170):
We are not able to discern how restrictions imposed by state and other local agencies to prevent pollution of navigable or non-navigable water, or the discharge of industrial waste into the same, under present day conditions has any bearing upon or furnishes any aid to the construction of a statute enacted almost sixty years ago. Moreover, it appears that the Interstate Compact to which the government refers provided that water shall be so treated "as to provide for substantially complete removal of settleable solids, and the removal of not less than forty-five per cent (45%) of the total suspended solids." See State ex rel. Dyer v. Sims, 341 U.S. 22, 24, 71 S.Ct. 557, 558, 95 L.Ed. 713. This appears to recognize the obvious, that is, that industrial or domestic wastes or street runoffs are never free from solids carried in suspension or in unstable solution.
The Act of 1890 was repealed by the Act of 1899. A comparison of the two Acts reveals a significant circumstance bearing upon the intent and purpose of Congress. Sec. 10 of the repealed Act (see United States v. Bellingham Bay Boom Co., 176 U.S. 211, 20 S.Ct. 343, 44 L.Ed. 437) provided among other things "That the creation of any obstruction, not affirmatively authorized by law, to the navigable capacity of any waters, * * * is hereby prohibited." This section provides a penalty of fine and imprisonment for a violation of the prohibition and that "such obstruction may be caused to be removed by the injunction of any circuit court exercising jurisdiction in any district in which such obstruction may be threatened or may exist; and proper proceedings in equity to this end may be instituted under the direction of the Attorney General of the United States." This right to an injunction to require removal of an unlawful obstruction, contained in the Act of 1890, was omitted from the Act of 1899. Thus, Congress by the latter enactment withdrew the right to obtain the removal of an obstruction by injunction, a right which it had bestowed in its enactment of 1890. We have no way of knowing, in fact need not be concerned with the motivation which caused Congress by the 1899 Act to withdraw the right to injunctive relief, which it had provided for in the Act of 1890.
In Wheeler v. Greene, 280 U.S. 49, 51, 50 S.Ct. 21, 74 L.Ed. 160, the court, referring to a similar situation, stated:
This appears an appropriate point to refer to two of the cases relied upon by the government in support of its asserted right to injunctive relief. United States v. Bellingham Bay Boom Co., 176 U.S. 211, 20 S.Ct. 343, 44 L.Ed. 437; United States v. Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co., 174 U.S. 690, 19 S.Ct. 770, 43 L.Ed. 1136. As shown, supra, the court in the Bellingham case relied upon the Act of 1890, which expressly provided for injunctive relief. The Rio Grande case falls in the same category. In the latter case the court stated (19 S.Ct. at page 777):
The government cites other cases in support of its statutory right to injunctive relief, including Sanitary District of Chicago v. United States, 266 U.S. 405, 45 S.Ct. 176, 69 L.Ed. 352, and People of State of New York v. State of New Jersey, 256 U.S. 296, 41 S.Ct. 492, 65 L.Ed. 937. A detailed analysis and discussion of these cases would unduly prolong this opinion. If the construction and interpretation which we have placed upon Secs. 403 and 407 is correct, none of these cases has any application. The case which perhaps makes the nearest approach is the Sanitary District of Chicago case. The government in its brief quotes from this case as follows (266 U.S. at page 425, 45 S.Ct. at page 178):
Moreover, it appears that the Supreme Court later had some misgiving as to its holding, certainly as to its reasoning, in the Sanitary District case. In State of Wisconsin v. State of Illinois, 278 U.S. 367, 49 S.Ct. 163, 73 L.Ed. 426, decided some four years later, the court, referring to its decision in the Sanitary District case, stated (278 U.S. at page 414, 49 S.Ct. at page 170):
In People of State of New York v. State of New Jersey, supra, [256 U.S. 296, 41 S.Ct. 496] an original action was commenced in the Supreme Court by the former State to enjoin the latter from discharging a large volume of sewage into Upper Bay, a part of New York harbor. The court sustained the right of the Federal government to intervene, upon allegations that the sewage discharge would interfere with navigation and "that practically irreparable damage will be caused to the extensive properties owned by the government adjacent to the bay." The fact that the government was permitted to intervene in an action pending before the Supreme Court furnishes no support, in our view, for its right to commence an original action for injunctive relief in the district court.
The government cites what it refers to as the landmark case of Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 22 U.S. 1, 6 L.Ed. 23, in support of the proposition that navigation and navigable streams are subject to the commerce power of the United States. That case also supports the proposition that such power can only be exercised by Congress. In Willamette Iron Bridge Co. v. Hatch, 125 U.S. 1, 8 S.Ct. 811, 815, 31 L.Ed. 629, the court stated:
"The power of congress to pass laws for the regulation of the navigation of public rivers, and to prevent any and all obstructions therein, is not questioned. But until it does pass some such law, there is no common law of the United States which prohibits obstructions and nuisances in navigable rivers * *. There must be a direct statute of the United States in order to bring within the scope of its laws, as administered by the courts of law and equity, obstructions and nuisances in navigable streams within the states." (Cited and quoted with approval in United States v. Bellingham Bay Boom Co., 176 U.S. 211, 20 S.Ct. 343, 345, 44 L.Ed. 437.)
In United States v. Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co., 174 U.S. 690, 19 S.Ct. 770, 777, 43 L.Ed. 1136, the court, referring to the Act of 1890 (heretofore discussed), stated:
In United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Co., 229 U.S. 53, 33 S.Ct. 667, 672, 57 L.Ed. 1063, the court stated:
Upon this phase of its argument the government quotes at length and places great reliance on In re Debs, 158 U.S. 564, 15 S.Ct. 900, 39 L.Ed. 1092. We have read this opinion and are of the view that it has no application to the instant situation. The government's own appraisement of the opinion discloses its irrelevancy. Referring to that case, the government in its brief states, "The cited opinion held that Congress has full power over channels of interstate commerce and the regulation of the mails." That is a far cry from the government's contention here that it has the inherent right, independent of congressional enactment, to injunctive relief. Thus, the government's concession concerning the Debs case is consistent with our view that the government has only such rights as are expressly provided by statute.
The government, as previously noted, makes an appealing argument that defendants should be required by a mandatory injunction to remove from the Calumet River any and all deposits for which they are responsible. It is an argument, however, which in our judgment should be made to Congress rather than to a court. As stated in Addison v. Holly Hill Fruit Products, Inc., 322 U.S. 607, 617, 64 S.Ct. 1215, 1221, 88 L.Ed. 1488: