Opinion ID: 779762
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Purported Exclusion By Regulation

Text: 19 First, the Forest Service relies on 40 C.F.R. § 122.27, which reads in pertinent part as follows: 20 (b) Definitions. (1) Silvicultural 3 point source means 21 any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance related to rock crushing, gravel washing, log sorting, or log storage facilities, which are operated in connection with silvicultural activities and from which pollutants are discharged into waters of the United States. The term does not include non-point source silvicultural activities such as nursery operations, site preparation, reforestation and subsequent cultural treatment, thinning, prescribed burning, pest and fire control, harvesting operations, surface drainage, or road construction and maintenance from which there is natural runoff. 22 The Forest Service argues that the aerial spraying is a silvicultural pest control activity, and that the regulation excludes pollution arising from silvicultural pest control activities from NPDES permit requirements by defining such pollution as nonpoint source. The Forest Service reads the regulation as a blanket exclusion for all silvicultural pest control activities. 23 The Forest Service's argument fails because the statute itself is clear and unambiguous. The statutory definition of point source, any discernable, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any ... vessel, 33 U.S.C. § 1362(14), clearly encompasses an aircraft equipped with tanks spraying pesticide from mechanical sprayers directly over covered waters. 4 The Forest Service cannot contravene the will of Congress through its reading of administrative regulations. If the intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress. Chevron, U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). 24 Unlike the Forest Service, we read the regulation to conform to the statute and to the common understanding of the difference between point source and nonpoint source pollution. We conclude that the regulation excludes from the definition of point source pollution only those silvicultural pest control activities from which there is natural runoff, rather than all silvicultural pest control activities. Again, the operative sentence reads as follows: 25 The term [point source] does not include non-point source silvicultural activities such as nursery operations, site preparation, reforestation and subsequent cultural treatment, thinning, prescribed burning, pest and fire control, harvesting operations, surface drainage, or road construction and maintenance from which there is natural runoff. 26 We read the final modifying phrase, from which there is natural runoff, to modify all the listed activities in the sentence. Therefore, silvicultural pest control from which there is natural runoff would be an example of a nonpoint source silvicultural activity not included in the term point source. Simply put, the regulation excludes nonpoint source silvicultural activities from NPDES permit requirements, whereas the spraying involved here is not a nonpoint source activity at all. 27 We are aware that a common canon of statutory construction provides that [r]eferential qualifying phrases, where no contrary intention appears, refer solely to the last antecedent. 2A Singer, Sutherland— Statutory Construction § 47.33 (5th ed.1992). However, our reading of from which there is natural runoff to reach back, qualifying all of the preceding antecedent examples of nonpoint source activities makes sense because nonpoint source pollution involves runoff that picks up scattered pollutants and washes them into water bodies. Oregon Natural Desert Ass'n v. Dombeck, 172 F.3d 1092, 1098 (9th Cir. 1998) (Congress had classified nonpoint source pollution as runoff caused primarily by rainfall around activities that employ or create pollutants. Such runoff could not be traced to any identifiable point of discharge.) (citing Trustees for Alaska v. EPA, 749 F.2d 549, 558 (9th Cir.1984)) (citing United States v. Earth Sciences, Inc., 599 F.2d 368, 373 (10th Cir.1979)) (citing legislative history of the Clean Water Act) (emphasis added). 28 The Forest Service asserted at oral argument that the qualifying phrase from which there is natural runoff applies only to the last antecedent road construction and maintenance, and does not reach back to qualify the activity at issue here, which is pest control. However, the administrative history of the regulation leaves no doubt that the qualifying phrase from which there is natural runoff reaches back to qualify all the listed activities, including pest control. 29 An early version of this regulation reads in pertinent part as follows: 30 This term does not include nonpoint source activities inherent to forest management such as nursery operations, site preparation, reforestation in all stages of growth, thinning, prescribed burning, pesticide and fire control, and harvesting operations from which runoff results from precipitation events. 31 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System and State Program Elements Necessary for Participation, Silvicultural Activities, 41 Fed.Reg. 6281, 6283 (Feb. 12, 1976). At the time this early version of the present regulation was promulgated, road construction and maintenance were not among the listed activities. Road construction and maintenance were added to the list several months later in June 1976 and the proposed regulation was changed to read as follows: 32 This term does not include nonpoint source activities inherent to silviculture such as nursery operations, site preparation, reforestation and subsequent cultural treatment, thinning, prescribed burning, pest and fire control, harvesting operations, surface drainage, and road construction and maintenance from which runoff results from precipitation events. 33 Part 124 — State Program Elements Necessary for Participation in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, Application of Permit Program to Silvicultural Activities, 41 Fed.Reg. 24709, 24711 (June 18, 1976). As the regulation was updated, the qualifying phrase remained at the end of the sentence and additional activities were simply inserted before the final qualifying phrase. 5 This editorial practice leaves no doubt that the final qualifying phrase modifies all the listed activities and that the regulation means only that those listed activities from which there is natural runoff are defined as nonpoint source activities. Because discharging pesticide from aircraft directly over covered waters has nothing to do with runoff, it is not a nonpoint source activity. 34 The Forest Service also argues that the first sentence of the regulation limits point source silvicultural activities to only the four listed point source activities: 35 Silvicultural point source means any discernable, confined and discrete conveyance related to rock crushing, gravel washing, log sorting, or log storage facilities. 36 40 C.F.R. § 122.27. In support of this reading, the Forest Service points to a passage from the Federal Register appearing contemporaneously with the publication of the regulation: only discharges from four activities related to silvicultural enterprises, rock crushing, gravel washing, log sorting and log storage facilities, are considered point sources and thus subject to the NPDES permit program. 41 Fed. Reg. 24710 (June 18, 1976). The Forest Service reads this quote out of context. Our reading of the entire text explaining the regulation leaves only one reasonable conclusion: that at the time the regulation was promulgated, only these four activities had previously been identified as point source activities associated with silviculture, and they are specifically listed to make clear that it is not the intent of the new regulation to exclude them from NPDES permit requirements. 37 First, the explanation elucidates the general criteria applicable to silviculture for identifying nonpoint and point sources: 38 Basically, nonpoint sources of water pollution are identified by three characteristics: 39 (i) The pollutants discharged are induced by natural processes, including precipitation, seepage, percollation [sic], and runoff; 40 (ii) The pollutants discharged are not traceable to any discrete or identifiable facility; and (iii) The pollutants discharged are better controlled through the utilization of best management practices, including process and planning techniques. 41 In contrast to these criteria identifying nonpoint sources, point sources of water pollution are generally characterized by discrete and confined conveyances from which discharges of pollutants into navigable waters can be controlled by effluent limitations. It is these point sources in the silviculture category which are most amenable to control through the NPDES program [i.e. require permits]. 42 41 Fed.Reg. 24710. There would be no reason to announce general criteria for identifying silvicultural point sources if the narrow list of four activities was intended to be exhaustive. 43 Next, the explanation makes clear that the list is not exhaustive by providing the reason for listing the four activities: 44 By recognizing that most water pollution from silvicultural activities is nonpoint in nature, it was not intended that certain operations already identified as point sources be excluded from the permit program by definitional oversight. Thus, for the four operations incidental to silvicultural activities — rock crushing, gravel washing, log sorting and log storage — the jurisdiction and impact of these regulations remain the same. 45 Id. at 24711. The point of listing the four activities is to ensure that they continue to be subject to permit requirements after the new criteria for identifying point and nonpoint sources take effect, not to exclude all other silvicultural activities from NPDES permit requirements. 46 Considerable background discussion of this regulation found at 41 Fed.Reg. 6281 (Feb. 12, 1976) also makes clear that the four activities are not an exclusive list of point source activities associated with silviculture. 6 It is unnecessary, however, to beat an already dead horse with a continued exegesis through the yellowed pages of the Federal Register. We hold that the list of four silvicultural point source activities is not exhaustive. 7 47