Opinion ID: 484909
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Sampling Error Defense

Text: 69 The district court's findings that reported violations were excusable as based on sampling errors is a question of statutory interpretation, reviewable de novo. See, e.g., Trustees of Amalgamated Insurance Fund, 784 F.2d at 929. The district court's finding that some of the alleged violations were not actual violations is a finding of fact, reviewable under the clearly erroneous standard. United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 541, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948). The district court's opinion states: 70 Of those alleged ... violations, Union Oil presented evidence that thirteen were not even actual exceedances of permit limitations, because the applicable permit limitation either was not exceeded, or because the result was caused by error in wastewater sampling or analysis. 71 Memorandum at 8. 72 The court made no explicit finding on Union Oil's contention that thirteen of the alleged exceedances either were not exceedances or were caused by sampling error. We must surmise from the court's excusing Union Oil on all of the alleged violations that the court found that in the cases of these thirteen alleged violations either Union Oil had not violated the permit's terms or the exceedances were excusable due to sampling error. 73 Of the thirteen alleged violations in question, Union Oil presented some evidence that six were not in fact exceedances of the limitations set out in the permit. Two of the thirteen alleged violations are allegations of biochemical oxygen demand and oil and grease violations in February 1983 and December 1981, respectively. Because the district court made no finding as to whether these two alleged permit violations were in fact permit violations, we remand for the purpose of allowing the district court to make a finding of fact on this point. 74 The district court also failed to make findings of fact as to Union Oil's denial that in four instances it violated the permit's prohibition against creating conditions of visible oil in the receiving waters. It is unnecessary to remand this question because the record shows as a matter of law that Union Oil did violate the visible oil limitation. Union Oil argued at trial that while visible oil had been observed on the water near one of Union Oil's monitoring stations, there was no evidence of visible oil on San Pablo Bay. But Union Oil's permit limitations applied to the waters of the state, not merely to San Pablo Bay. Thus, the four alleged visible oil violations were in fact chargeable to Union Oil. 75 Union Oil argued that seven of the alleged violations were excusable because, while the Discharge Monitoring Reports ostensibly indicated that Union Oil had exceeded limitations contained in the permit, these reports were invalid due to sampling error. We hold that the district court should not have excused these exceedances on the basis of sampling error. 76 The NPDES program fundamentally relies on self-monitoring. The Code of Federal Regulations contains several provisions that are obviously designed to ensure utmost accuracy in the reports submitted by permittees. For instance, 40 C.F.R. Sec. 122.22 requires that a person signing a self-monitoring report shall make the following certification: 77 I certify under penalty of law that this document and all attachments were prepared under my direction or supervision in accordance with a system designed to assure that qualified personnel properly gather and evaluate the information submitted. Based on my inquiry of the person or persons who manage the system, or those persons directly responsible for gathering the information, the information submitted is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, accurate, and complete. I am aware that there are significant penalties for submitting false information, including the possibility of fine and imprisonment for knowing violations. 78 The regulations at 40 C.F.R. Secs. 122.41(j) and (k) establish numerous requirements for self-monitoring and reporting. These sections provide for heavy criminal penalties for anyone who knowingly falsifies reports or knowingly makes any false statement. 79 These and other EPA regulations demonstrate the agency's concern that reports be accurate. The legislative history surrounding the 1972 amendments to the Act supports the conclusion that accurate reports are critical to effective operation of the Act: 80 [T]he bill ... establishes and makes precise new requirements imposed on persons and subject to enforcement. One purpose of these new requirements is to avoid the necessity of lengthy fact finding, investigations, and negotiations at the time of enforcement. Enforcement of violations of requirements under this Act should be based on relatively narrow fact situations requiring a minimum of discretionary decision making or delay. 81 S.Rep. No. 414, 92nd Cong., 1st Sess. 64, reprinted in 1972 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 3668, 3730. 82 Were we to accept Union Oil's argument regarding the use of sampling errors to excuse reported permit exceedances, we would be sanctioning countless additional hours of NPDES litigation and creating new, complicated factual questions for district courts to resolve. As indicated by the legislative history, Congress hoped to limit such situations. In addition, if each self-monitoring report is to be considered only prima facie rather than conclusive evidence of an exceedance of a permit limitation, citizen groups like the Sierra Club would be taking a considerable risk whenever they initiated a citizen enforcement action pursuant to 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365. While a permittee's publicly filed reports might clearly indicate that illegal pollution was taking place, the permittee might have additional information unavailable to citizen groups indicating that sampling error rendered the reports meaningless. Finally and most importantly, allowing permittees to excuse their reported exceedances by showing sampling error would create the perverse result of rewarding permittees for sloppy laboratory practices. Such an approach would surely undermine the efficacy of the self-monitoring program. 83 We conclude that when a permittee's reports indicate that the permittee has exceeded permit limitations, the permittee may not impeach its own reports by showing sampling error.