Opinion ID: 785944
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Introduction-The Least Costly Method of Compliance

Text: 75 The second basis on which ALC asks us to overturn the District Court's calculation of economic benefit is its contention that the District Court erred in calculating the amount of money it would have cost ALC to institute the changes that would have led to compliance with the requirements of its permits. In brief, ALC argues that the numbers the EPA came up with (which were adopted by the Court) and the kinds of solutions it proposed were considerably overpriced, especially considering that, according to ALC, it had already fixed the problems for much less money and could show that the solutions it had implemented already worked. 76 The threshold question is whether, as a matter of law, the District Court must calculate economic benefit using the least costly method of compliance. This question does not appear to have been addressed by any Court of Appeals. Those District Courts that have addressed the issue hold that the calculations should be based on the least costly method of compliance. See, e.g., Gwaltney of Smithfield, 611 F.Supp. at 1563 n. 25 (holding that economic benefit calculations could not be based on a more expensive, permanent solution when a less expensive interim solution had already achieved compliance); United States v. WCI Steel, Inc., 72 F.Supp.2d 810 (N.D.Ohio 1999) (finding credible the defendant's expert testimony regarding possible compliance measures and calculating economic benefit based on significantly less expensive method of compliance than that proposed by the government's expert). We find these decisions persuasive, and hold that economic benefit analysis should be based on the least costly method of compliance. However, contra ALC's contentions, it does not appear to us that the District Court took a different approach.