Opinion ID: 185506
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: EPA's Authority

Text: 14 It is elementary that our federal government is one of limited and enumerated powers. The powers of the legislature are defined and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten, the constitution is written. Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 176 (1803) (Marshall, C.J.). This principle applies with equal force to the so-called modern administrative state. EPA is a federal agency--a creature of statute. It has no constitutional or common law existence or authority, but only those authorities conferred upon it by Congress. It is axiomatic that an administrative agency's power to promulgate legislative regulations is limited to the authority delegated by Congress. Bowen v. Georgetown Univ. Hosp., 488 U.S. 204, 208 (1988). Thus, if there is no statute conferring authority, a federal agency has none. We must reverse EPA's decision to administer a federal operating permit program in lands whose Indian country status is considered to be in question if it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. See Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n of the United States, Inc. v. EPA, 768 F.2d 385, 389 n.6 (D.C. Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1082 (1986). If EPA lacks authority under the Clean Air Act, then its action is plainly contrary to law and cannot stand. See American Petroleum Inst. v. EPA, 52 F.3d 1113, 1119-20 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (API); Ethyl Corp. v. EPA, 51 F.3d 1053, 1060 (D.C. Cir. 1995). To determine whether the agency's action is contrary to law, we look first to determine whether Congress has delegated to the agency the legal authority to take the action that is under dispute. United States v. Mead Corp., 121 S. Ct. 2164, 2171 (2000) (We hold that administrative implementation of a particular statutory provision qualifies for Chevron deference when it appears that Congress delegated authority to the agency generally to make rules carrying the force of law....); Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 843-44. Mere ambiguity in a statute is not evidence of congressional delegation of authority. See Sea-Land Servs., Inc. v. Dep't of Transp., 137 F.3d 640, 645 (D.C. Cir. 1998) ([Chevron] deference comes into play of course, only as a consequence of statutory ambiguity, and then only if the reviewing court finds an implicit delegation of authority to the agency.) (emphasis added); City of Kansas City, Mo. v. Dep't of Housing & Urban Dev., 923 F.2d 188, 192-93 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (implicit delegation of interpretive authority, as well as ambiguity, are required before Chevron-step-two deference is appropriate); cf. Railway Labor Exec. Ass'n v. Nat'l Mediation Bd., 29 F.3d 655 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (en banc). However, when Congress has explicitly or impliedly left a gap for an agency to fill, there is a delegation of authority to the agency to give meaning to a specific provision of the statute by regulation, and any ensuing regulation is binding in the courts unless procedurally defective, arbitrary and capricious in substance, or manifestly contrary to the statute. Mead, 121 S. Ct. at 2171. 15 Agency authority may not be lightly presumed. Were courts to presume a delegation of power absent an express withholding of such power, agencies would enjoy virtually limitless hegemony, a result plainly out of keeping with Chevron and quite likely with the Constitution as well. Ethyl Corp. 51 F.3d at 1060 (D.C. Cir. 1995). 2 Thus, we will not presume a delegation of power based solely on the fact that there is not an express withholding of such power. API, 52 F.3d at 1120. 16 We conclude that the plain meaning of 42 U.S.C. 7601(d) and 7661a grants EPA the authority to promulgate, administer and enforce a [federal operating permit] program for a state or tribe if, and only if, (1) the state or tribe fails to submit an operating program or (2) the operating program is disapproved by EPA or (3) EPA determines the state or tribe is not adequately administering and enforcing a program. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 7661a(d), (i). Since Congress has not delegated authority to the agency to act beyond these statutory parameters, we will not defer to EPA's interpretation of the Act as giving it the broader power to indefinitely run a federal operating permit program in the absence of the conditions set out by sections 7661a(d), (i), and 7601(d). See Mead, 121 S. Ct. at 2177 (Chevron deference not applicable where statutory circumstances indicate no intent to delegate general authority to make rules with force of law); Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842-43.