Opinion ID: 213396
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Heading: The Doctrine Of Implicit Field Preemption And The General Presumption Against Preemption

Text: PMSA does not argue that the Vessel Fuel Rules are expressly preempted by any federal statute, and it instead relies on the doctrine of implicit field preemption. The principles governing this doctrine appear to be relatively easy to state, although they seem to be rather difficult to apply in practice. We agree with the District Court that it is appropriate to apply the otherwise well-established presumption against preemption in the current circumstances. In turn, the application of such a presumption in this matter clearly weighs against PMSA's position. Field preemption arises when state law regulates conduct in a field that Congress intended the Federal Government to occupy exclusively. English v. Gen. Elec. Co., 496 U.S. 72, 79, 110 S.Ct. 2270, 110 L.Ed.2d 65 (1990). We will find implicit preemption where the intent of Congress is clearly manifested, or implicit from a pervasive scheme of federal regulation that leaves no room for state and local supplementation, or implicit from the fact that the federal law touches a field (e.g. foreign affairs) in which `the federal interest is so dominant that the federal system will be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the same subject.' Barber, 42 F.3d at 1189(quoting Wis. Pub. Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597, 604-05, 111 S.Ct. 2476, 115 L.Ed.2d 532 (1991)). In deciding whether a federal law preempts a state counterpart, our only task is to ascertain the intent of Congress. See, e.g., PMSA v. Aubry, 918 F.2d 1409, 1415 (9th Cir.1990) (quoting Cal. Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Guerra, 479 U.S. 272, 280, 107 S.Ct. 683, 93 L.Ed.2d 613 (1987)). PMSA contends that the 3-mile boundary purportedly established by the SLA constitutes a component of a comprehensive federal scheme and that the SLA statutorily demarcates the territorial boundaries of the states for purposes of federal law. (Appellant's Brief at 20.) In other words, the powers of the states are subordinated even within their respective territorial boundaries, and they, in turn, lack any powers whatsoever (with a few possible narrow exceptions) beyond such boundaries in waters in which the federal government's own powers are exclusive. ( Id. ) According to PMSA, Congress purportedly legislated on a matter in which the federal interest is so dominant that it must be assumed that enforcement of state law on the same subject is precluded. PMSA goes on to argue that the Vessel Fuel Rules assert the territorial dominion of California out to 24 miles and thereby venture into a field comprehensively settled by Congress in the SLAthe definition of a state's territorial seas. (Appellant's Reply Brief at 9.) In conducting its preemption analysis, the District Court expressly relied on the general presumption against preemption. It recognized that a presumption applies to protect a state's historic police power in protecting the health and safety of its citizenry, unless the clear and manifest purpose of Congress dictates otherwise. (ER33 (citing Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947))). PMSA vigorously contends that the presumption does not apply in this case, relying in particular on the Supreme Court's opinion in United States v. Locke, 529 U.S. 89, 120 S.Ct. 1135, 146 L.Ed.2d 69 (2000). The Locke Court ruled that certain components of Washington's regulatory scheme governing oil tankers in Puget Sound were preempted by the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 (PWSA) and another federal statute (specifically striking down state crew training requirements, an English language proficiency mandate for tanker crew members, a navigation watch requirement, and marine casualty reporting requirements) and remanded for further consideration of the remaining state-law provisions. Id. at 99-117, 120 S.Ct. 1135. It specifically rejected our broad application of the  Rice assumption on the grounds that an `assumption' of nonpreemption is not triggered when the State regulates in an area where there has been a history of significant federal presence. Id. at 108, 120 S.Ct. 1135(citing Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 525, 97 S.Ct. 1305, 51 L.Ed.2d 604 (1977); Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 485, 116 S.Ct. 2240, 135 L.Ed.2d 700 (1996)). Applying this approach, the Locke Court determined that the presumption (or assumption) was inapplicable: The state laws now in question bear upon national and international maritime commerce, and in this area there is no beginning assumption that concurrent regulation by the State is a valid exercise of its police powers. Rather, we must ask whether the local laws in question are consistent with the federal statutory structure, which has as one of its objectives a uniformity of regulation for maritime commerce. No artificial presumption aids us in determining the scope of appropriate local regulation under the PWSA, which, as we discuss below, does preserve, in Title I of that Act, the historic role of the States to regulate local ports and waters under appropriate circumstances. At the same time, as we also discuss below, uniform, national rules regarding general tanker design, operation, and seaworthiness have been mandated by Title II of the PWSA. Id. at 108-09, 120 S.Ct. 1135; see also Fednav, Ltd. v. Chester, 547 F.3d 607, 622 (6th Cir.2008) (refraining from applying any `beginning assumption' with respect to Michigan's ballast statute). The Supreme Court, however, further explained the proper scope of this presumption against preemption in Wyeth v. Levine, 555 U.S. 555, 129 S.Ct. 1187, 173 L.Ed.2d 51 (2009). In this 2009 decision, the Court rejected the theory that the FDA's approval of drug warning labels furnished the drug manufacturer with a complete defense to state tort claims for failure to provide an adequate warning. Id. at 1193-1204. The Supreme Court expressly applied the beginning assumption against preemption. Id. at 1194-95. In a footnote, it considered but rejected the manufacturer's contention that the presumption should not apply at all because the federal government has regulated drug labeling for more than a century. Id. at 1195 n. 3. Stating that this argument was based on a misunderstanding of the governing principle, the Wyeth Court explained that [w]e rely on the presumption because respect for the States as `independent sovereigns in our federal system' leads us to assume that `Congress does not cavalierly pre-empt state law causes of action.' Id. (quoting Medtronic, Inc., 518 U.S. at 485, 116 S.Ct. 2240). Specifically, the presumption thereby accounts for the historic presence of state law but does not rely on the absence of federal regulation. Id. While PMSA contends that the Vessel Fuel Rules operate in fields historically occupied by the federal government (e.g., maritime commerce, conduct at sea outside of state boundaries, and the definition of state boundaries), we agree with the District Court that these state regulations ultimately implicate the prevention and control of air pollution. States have long sought to protect their own residents from the undisputedly harmful effects of air pollution and other forms of environmental harms. In its 1960 ruling in Huron Portland Cement Co. v. City of Detroit, 362 U.S. 440, 80 S.Ct. 813, 4 L.Ed.2d 852 (1960), the Supreme Court observed that [l]egislation designed to free from pollution the very air that people breathe clearly falls within the exercise of even the most traditional concept of what is compendiously known as the police power, id. at 442, 80 S.Ct. 813. Likewise, this Court more recently stated that [a]ir pollution prevention falls under the broad police powers of the states, which include the power to protect the health of citizens in the state and that [e]nvironmental regulation traditionally has been a matter of state authority. Exxon Mobil Corp. v. U.S. EPA, 217 F.3d 1246, 1255 (9th Cir. 2000) (citing Massachusetts v. U.S. Dep't of Transp., 93 F.3d 890, 894 (D.C.Cir. 1996)). Congress itself contemplated that the states would retain leading roles in regulating air quality when it passed the Clean Air Act. See, e.g., id. at 1254-55. While we acknowledge that the state regulatory scheme at issue in Locke likewise sought to protect the environment, we find it significant that the Washington state law addressed the same subject and had the same purpose, namely the prevention of oil tanker accidents, as the federal legislation. As explained in more detail in Section III.A.2., infra, we are not faced with the same kind of situation here with respect to the Vessel Fuel Rules and the SLA. Given the historic presence of state law in the area of air pollution, we apply the well-established presumption or assumption against preemption in the current appeal. See, e.g., Kroske v. U.S. Bank Corp., 432 F.3d 976, 981 (9th Cir. 2005) (Here, although we recognize that there is a significant federal presence in the regulation of national banks, WLAD (Washington Law Against Discrimination) was enacted pursuant to the State's historic police powers to prohibit discrimination on specified grounds. Thus, we begin with the presumption that Congress did not intend the National Bank Act to preempt the WLAD. (citations omitted)).