Opinion ID: 501787
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Elimination of Underwater Highwalls.

Text: 363 Highwalls are vertical walls of exposed overburden and coal that remain after an excavation. Congress expressed great concern about these dangerous and unsightly by-products of stripmining 102 and flatly declared that all surface coal mining operations must backfill, compact ..., and grade in order to restore the approximate original contour [AOC] of the land with all highwalls, spoils piles, and depressions eliminated. SMCRA Sec. 515(b)(3). Even where Congress allowed exceptions to the general AOC restoration requirement, it still explicitly required the elimination of highwalls. See SMCRA Secs. 515(c), (e). 103 364 The Secretary nonetheless promulgated regulations that permitted vertical highwalls to remain in permanent water impoundments (where such impoundments were provided for in the mining permit), so long as [t]he vertical portion of any remaining highwall shall be located far enough below the low-water line along the full extent of the highwall to provide adequate safety and access for the proposed water users. 30 C.F.R. Sec. 816.49(a)(9). 104 NWF challenged these regulations on the basis of the prohibition of all highwalls under sec. 515(b)(3). The district court struck down the regulation as unlawful, concluding that explicit language requiring the elimination of highwalls elsewhere in the Act, and its legislative history, strongly counseled against inferring an exception to that requirement in the case of water impoundments. PSMRL II (Round III), 620 F.Supp. at 1571-72. 365 The Secretary argued that the SMCRA explicitly makes water impoundment subject to the grading requirements of Sec. 515(b)(3). Although the Act assuredly requires that operators restore mined land to its AOC, including the elimination of highwalls, AOC itself is defined as follows:approximate original contour means that surface configuration achieved by backfilling and grading of the mined area so that the reclaimed area, including any terracing or access roads, closely resembles the general surface configuration of the land prior to mining and blends into and complements the drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain, with all highwalls and spoil piles eliminated; water impoundments may be permitted where the regulatory authority determines that they are in accordance with section 515(b)(8) of this Act. 366 SMCRA Sec. 701(2) (emphasis added). Thus permanent water impoundments could reasonably be seen as subject not to the general grading requirements of Sec. 515(b)(3), but to the particular ones of Sec. 515(b)(8). 367 The district court did not dispute the Secretary's contention that water impoundments constitute a third specific variance from AOC requirements (in addition to those found in Sec. 515(c), (e)). However, because the other two AOC waivers in the Act explicitly mandate the elimination of highwalls, and because the section of the Conference Report dealing with the AOC variance applicable to steep slope mining emphasized Congress' concerns about highwalls, the district court concluded that Congress meant the highwall elimination requirement to apply to water impoundments as well. 368 The Act, however, on its face, does not support the district court's interpretation. Unlike the other two AOC variances, the water impoundment grading requirements do not include a highwall elimination requirement. Instead, an operator wishing to create a permanent water impoundment must show, among other things, that final grading will provide safety and access for proposed water users. SMCRA Sec. 515(b)(8)(E). 369 NWF argues, and the district court held, that the ubiquitous requirement that highwalls be eliminated should be read into a provision where it was left out. Industry and the Secretary argue the contrary, that Congress included the requirement precisely in those provisions where it meant to do so. 105 Congress in this case has not stated that highwalls completely submerged in an authorized impoundment must be removed. The Secretary in turn has considered the policies in favor of the general highwall elimination requirement and concluded that they do not necessitate removing those highwalls in every water impoundment case. This is the type of judgment we would expect Congress to leave to the agency given the task of implementing and enforcing their complex regulatory scheme. The district court should have given greater deference to the Secretary's interpretation of the statute. Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842, 104 S.Ct. at 2781 (1984). We reverse the district court judgment and reinstate the regulations. 370