Opinion ID: 3065013
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The EPA’s Discretionary Certification of

Text: Completion We next address Goodrich’s allegation that the EPA routinely delays issuing a certification of completion in order to thwart judicial review. We need not decide whether that allegation constitutes a collateral, procedural challenge, because we hold that Goodrich’s claim is not ripe. As announced by the Supreme Court in CSS, and echoed in our cases, Proyecto San Pablo, 189 F.3d at 1138; Naranjo-Aguilera, 30 F.3d at 1113-14, even claims that are not barred by statute may be barred by the ripeness doctrine. In particular, the “[p]laintiffs must have taken ‘the affirmative steps that [they] could take before the [agency] blocked [their] path.’ ” Proyecto San RIALTO v. WEST COAST LOADING 11119 Pablo, 189 F.3d at 1138 (last two alterations in original) (quoting CSS, 509 U.S. at 59). [12] Here, Goodrich fears that, once it has completed the work required by UAO 2003-11, the EPA will decline to certify completion. That claim is not ripe for adjudication because the feared harm has not yet been realized. See Immigrant Assistance Project, 306 F.3d at 859 (“The ripeness question is ‘whether the harm asserted has matured sufficiently to warrant judicial intervention.’ ” (quoting Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499 n.10 (1975)). By Goodrich’s own admission, it has not completed the work required by UAO 2003-11. That being so, it has not “taken the affirmative steps that [it] could take before the [agency] blocked [its] path.” Proyecto San Pablo, 189 F.3d at 1138 (internal quotation marks omitted). We therefore conclude that Goodrich’s claim is not ripe. We also observe that, when the claim does ripen, CERCLA provides Goodrich with judicial review. As explained by the Seventh Circuit in Employers Insurance of Wausau, 52 F.3d at 662, once Goodrich believes that it has completed the work, Goodrich has a claim under a standard reimbursement action brought under § 9606(b)(2)(B) and can argue in that action that the EPA’s refusal to certify completion is in error. Critically, § 9606(b)(2)(A) authorizes a PRP to petition the government for reimbursement “60 days after completion of the required action“ (emphasis added), not 60 days after the EPA certifies completion. The EPA’s certification is not a prerequisite to bringing suit. As explained by the Seventh Circuit: If the party ordered to clean up a contaminated site claims to have completed the work, he has a claim for reimbursement, the reimbursement provision being available to “any person who receives and complies with the terms of any” Superfund clean-up order. § 9606(b)(2)(A). If the EPA turns down the claim on the ground that the clean-up has not been 11120 RIALTO v. WEST COAST LOADING completed . . ., the party has a right to sue and the agency can defend by showing that the clean-up has not been completed and thus that a condition of maintaining such a suit has not been fulfilled. The district court will adjudicate this ground for dismissal . . . . Employers Ins. of Wausau, 52 F.3d at 662. As soon as Goodrich believes that it has completed the UAO 2003-11 work, it can petition the EPA for reimbursement and, if the EPA refuses, bring an action in federal court. But it cannot now, or then, seek judicial review of the EPA’s refusal to certify completion concerning other UAOs to which Goodrich has no connection. [13] In summary, the district court correctly held that it lacks jurisdiction over this aspect of the “pattern and practice” claim. 3. Control and Manipulation of the Administrative Record Finally, we address Goodrich’s allegation that the EPA “controls” and “manipulates” the record of decision that supports the issuance of a UAO, thus preventing meaningful judicial review of the validity of the order. Goodrich correctly observes that, at least before the EPA issues an order, there is only a limited opportunity for a PRP to provide input into the administrative record, which the agency maintains. 42 U.S.C. § 9613(k). Goodrich also correctly observes that judicial review generally is limited to the administrative record. Id. § 9613(j)(1); but see id. (allowing a court to consider “supplemental materials” in some circumstances). Putting those observations together, Goodrich complains that the evidentiary basis for judicial review of the validity of a UAO is overly restricted.11 11 We do not understand the complaint to allege that, for instance, the EPA destroys evidence or alters documents in the administrative record. RIALTO v. WEST COAST LOADING 11121 But a challenge to those statutory requirements is a facial challenge to the statute itself, not a “pattern and practice” claim. As noted above, the district court rejected, on the merits, Goodrich’s facial challenge to the statute. Because Goodrich did not appeal that order, we do not reach Goodrich’s facial challenge. [14] In conclusion, we hold that the district court correctly held that it lacks jurisdiction over this allegation and over Goodrich’s entire “pattern and practice” claim.