Opinion ID: 382652
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: EPA's Acquiescence in Issuance of State NPDES Permit

Text: 17 The District charges that the EPA's failure to veto Maryland's grant of an NPDES permit did not comport with the provisions of the Clean Water Act. The District views Maryland's failure to notify it, a downstream jurisdiction, as a fatal defect that compels revocation of the permit and closure of the plant until new studies are completed. Furthermore, the District argues that the Clean Water Act required the EPA and Maryland officials to consult with the Department of the Interior and the National Capital Planning Commission regarding a treatment plant that would degrade Rock Creek's waters. Finally, the District believes the EPA and Maryland impermissibly failed to incorporate limitations on infectious viruses in the permit itself and unlawfully included a treatment bypass provision that will allow the discharge of untreated sewage into Rock Creek. These errors, according to the District, justify granting injunctive relief barring the discharge of effluent into Rock Creek. 18 At the outset, however, the EPA raises a threshold jurisdictional issue. It contends that its decision not to object to a state-issued permit is one committed to agency discretion by law, 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2) (1976), and therefore not reviewable in federal court. The District responds that the EPA's participation in the joint review and approval of the permit application constituted final agency action reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act, id. § 702 (1976). 19 Federal courts clearly may review Agency vetoes of state NPDES decisions. Under section 509(b)(1)(F), 33 U.S.C. § 1369(b)(1)(F), the United States courts of appeals are empowered to (r)eview . . . the Administrator's action in issuing or denying any permit under (33 U.S.C.) section 1342 . . . . Id. When the EPA objects to a state permit, the precise effect is to 'deny( )' a permit within the meaning of section 509(b)(1)(F). Crown Simpson Pulp Co. v. Costle, 445 U.S. 193, 196, 100 S.Ct. 1093, 1095, 63 L.Ed.2d 312 (U.S. Mar. 17, 1980) (per curiam); Republic Steel Corp. v. Costle, 581 F.2d 1228, 1230 n.1 (6th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 909, 99 S.Ct. 1219, 59 L.Ed.2d 457 (1979). Direct review by the courts of appeals ensure(s) prompt resolution of challenges to EPA's actions and . . . recognize(s) that EPA's veto of a state-issued permit is functionally similar to its denial of a permit in States which do not administer an approval permit-issuing program. Crown Simpson Pulp Co. v. Costle, 445 U.S. at 1094, 100 S.Ct. at 1094. 20 Review of the Agency's decision not to veto a state permit is a more difficult question. 10 When the Agency vetoes a permit, a clear record exists of its actions and reasons; when the Agency decides not to act, there may be no record to review. Having examined the legislative scheme, the policies of the Clean Water Act, and the case law, we conclude that the Agency's decision not to veto a state NPDES permit is not reviewable in federal district court. 21 In considering the Clean Water Act, Congress carefully constructed a legislative scheme that imposed major responsibility for control of water pollution on the states. Once the EPA approves a state program for issuing NPDES permits, Congress envisioned the EPA's role as largely a supervisory one. The Agency retains a veto over the issuance of state permits, but it may also waive responsibility for objecting to noncomplying state permits and even waive notice of the NPDES applications. 33 U.S.C. § 1342(d)(3), (e). 22 The course of the Clean Water Act through Congress demonstrates the emphasis Congress placed on giving responsibility to the states and letting the Agency exercise discretion in supervising the NPDES program. The Senate version of the Act, S. 2770, 92d Cong., 1st Sess. (1971), reprinted in 2 Legislative History 1534, originally required Agency approval for all major state-issued permits. 11 See S.Rep.No. 414, 92d Cong., 1st Sess. 71-72 (1972), reprinted in 2 Legislative History 1489-90. The House version, H.R. 11896, 92d Cong., 1st Sess. (1971), reprinted in 1 Legislative History at 893, however, entrusted more responsibility to the states; states with Agency-approved programs would themselves issue permits, subject only to a discretionary veto by the Agency. See H.R.Rep.No. 911, 92d Cong., 1st Sess. 127 (1972), reprinted in 1 Legislative History 814. This provision placed the major burden for regulating water pollution on the states. The House committee considering the bill stated: 23 representatives of the States, almost unanimously, stressed the need to put the maximum responsibility for the permit process in the States. They deplored the duplication and second guessing that could go on if the Administrator could veto the State decisions. The Committee believes that the States ought to have the opportunity to assume the responsibilities that they have requested. 24 Id. 25 The bill that emerged from the conference committee and became the Clean Water Act featured provisions of H.R. 11896 that gave the states the primary responsibility for issuing NPDES permits. The bill also made the EPA approval of state programs meeting the statutory requirements mandatory rather than discretionary, as in S. 2770. In addition, the final version incorporated the waiver provisions of the House and Senate bills, thereby permitting the EPA to waive the notification requirement under section 1342(e) and to waive its right to veto an application for failure to follow the guidelines under section 1342(d)(3). 26 These provisions reflect the desire of Congress to put the regulatory burden on the states and to give the Agency broad discretion in administering the program. As Representative James Wright stated in describing the NPDES permit process, 27 If the Administrator determines that a State has the authority to issue permits consistent with the act, he shall approve the submitted program. In that event, the States, under State law, could issue State discharge permits. These would be State, not Federal actions . . .. 28 . . . The managers expect the Administrator to use this authority (over state programs) judiciously; it is their intent that the act be administered in such a manner that the abilities of the States to control their own permit programs will be developed and strengthened. They look for and expect State and local interest, initiative, and personnel to provide a much more effective program than that which would result from control in the regional offices of the Environmental Protection Agency. 29 118 Cong.Rec. 33761 (1972), reprinted in 1 Legislative History 262 (remarks of Rep. Wright). 30 This legislative history compels the conclusion that the Agency's decision not to review or to veto a state's action on an NPDES permit application is committed to agency discretion by law. 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2) (1976). Although section 701(a)(2) has a narrow scope, see Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 91 S.Ct. 814, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971), it applies here, where  'the statutes are drawn in such broad terms that . . . there is no law to apply.'  Id. at 410, 91 S.Ct. at 821 (quoting S.Rep.No. 752, 79th Cong., 1st Sess. 26 (1945)). The Clean Water Act allows the EPA to choose whether to participate in the application for a state NPDES permit. The Act also gives the EPA freedom to waive notice of the application and to waive any violations in the permit. Certain guidelines apply to the application process, but these guidelines do not bind the Agency in its supervisory role of monitoring state permits. In reaching substantially the same conclusion, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit noted that 31 the legislative history makes very clear that Congress intended EPA to retain discretion to decline to veto a permit even after the agency found some violation of applicable guidelines. That legislative history, more explicit and unequivocal than generally found, leans in almost every expression toward minimal federal intervention when a state plan has been approved. 32 . . . In light of the pervasiveness of this theme, . . . and the conferral of broad discretion to waive review of individual permits, we conclude that Congress intended to allow the Administrator to consider the significance of any guideline violations in terms of the overall goal of the (Act) . . . . 33 Save the Bay, Inc. v. EPA, 556 F.2d 1282, 1294 (5th Cir. 1977). 12 34 That the Agency participated in a joint review of the application with Maryland officials does not alter this conclusion. Though the Agency fulfilled its responsibility of reviewing the limitations and other conditions imposed as part of a draft permit, Memorandum of Agreement at 10, reprinted in J.A. at 45, by advising state officials concerning the effluent limitations and regional sewage treatment planning, see Letter from Charles W. Sapp to Arnold Schiffman (June 14, 1976), reprinted in J.A. at 127, such participation does not make the Agency's actions reviewable in federal district court. EPA involvement is still discretionary, and its involvement in the issuance of the plant's permit did not undercut the primary responsibility of the state of Maryland to consider and approve the NPDES application. Granting federal court review of the Agency's actions in cases such as this one would upset the federal-state balance struck by Congress: it would allow parties to create a basis for federal jurisdiction when federal involvement is merely secondary. As the Ninth Circuit stated in Shell Oil Co. v. Train, 585 F.2d 408 (9th Cir. 1978),a holding that statutorily sanctioned advice by the EPA to a state constitutes final federal agency action reviewable in the federal courts would permit an applicant, dissatisfied with a decision of a state board, to circumvent the appellate process envisioned by the statute and bestow jurisdiction upon a federal court simply by alleging coercion or undue influence. 35 Id. at 414. See generally Note, Jurisdiction to Review Informal EPA Influence Upon State Decisionmaking Under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 92 Harv.L.Rev. 1814 (1979). Such a result would be unacceptable. Therefore, we hold that the Agency's actions regarding Maryland's approval of the NPDES permit for the plant are not reviewable in federal court. 36