Opinion ID: 61690
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A citizen suit may be dismissed as moot

Text: Congress enacted the CWA with the express purpose of restor[ing] and maintain[ing] the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a). Among the myriad of mechanisms for achieving this goal, Congress empowered private citizens to bring suit in federal court against alleged violators of the Act. 33 U.S.C. § 1365. Under the CWA citizen-suit provision, federal courts are authorized to enter injunctions and assess civil penalties, payable to the United States Treasury, against any person found to be in violation of an effluent standard or limitation under the Act. § 1365(a); Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 175, 120 S.Ct. 693, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000). The citizen-suit provision is a critical component of the CWA's enforcement scheme, as it permit[s] citizens to abate pollution when the government cannot or will not command compliance. Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Found., Inc., 484 U.S. 49, 62, 108 S.Ct. 376, 98 L.Ed.2d 306 (1987). However, Congress placed some limitations on the commencement of citizen suits under the CWA. First, a citizen may not commence suit prior to sixty days after giving notice of the alleged violation to the EPA, the State, and the alleged violator. § 1365(b)(1)(A). Second, no citizen suit may be brought if the EPA or State has commenced and is diligently prosecuting a civil or criminal action against the alleged violator. § 1365(b)(1)(B). The Act is silent as to which mechanisms may be invoked to dispense with citizen suits  like ECO's  that have been properly commenced under Section 1365(b). ECO argues that courts should not employ judicially-created mootness or res judicata doctrines to dismiss a properly filed citizen suit because this would conflict with Congress's statutory scheme under the CWA. ECO invokes the canon of statutory construction ( expressio unius est exclusio alterius ) that instructs [w]hen a statute limits a thing to be done in a particular mode, it includes a negative of any other mode. Christensen v. Harris County, 529 U.S. 576, 583, 120 S.Ct. 1655, 146 L.Ed.2d 621 (2000). ECO posits that because Congress imposed certain express limitations on a citizen's right to prosecute a CWA suit, all other methods of limiting that right are excluded. Under ECO's theory, the decision to dismiss a properly commenced citizen suit due to mootness constitutes an impermissible judicial addition to Congress's enumerated limitations on such suits. ECO's argument is flawed for two reasons. First, the thing to be done under Section 1365(b) is the commencement of a citizen suit, not the resolution of such a suit. Second, and more importantly, mootness is part of the Article III standing inquiry applicable to all suits filed in federal court. See Laidlaw, 528 U.S. at 189-94, 120 S.Ct. 693. Thus, when dismissing a citizen suit as moot, a court does not graft some judicially-created doctrine onto the CWA. Rather, a finding that the irreducible constitutional minimum of standing is not satisfied means the court has no constitutional authority to resolve the dispute between the citizen and the alleged violator. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). One court has noted that the citizen-suit provision confers standing to enforce the Clean Water Act to the full extent allowed by the Constitution. Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Gaston Copper Recycling Corp., 204 F.3d 149, 152 (4th Cir.2000) (en banc). The full extent of the law does not extend beyond constitutional limits. Accordingly, this court has recognized that developments subsequent to the filing of a citizen suit may moot the citizen's case. See Carr v. Alta Verde Indus., Inc., 931 F.2d 1055, 1061-65 (5th Cir.1991). [3] Having established that the jurisdictional mootness inquiry is required in the context of a CWA citizen suit, we turn to an application of mootness principles to ECO's suit.