Opinion ID: 185864
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: THE MERITS OF THE BETA/PHOTON MCLs

Text: 102 As noted above, the 1996 amendments to the SDWA state that: 103 In carrying out this section, and, to the degree that an Agency action is based on science, the Administrator shall use — (i) the best available, peer-reviewed science and supporting studies conducted in accordance with sound and objective scientific practices; and (ii) data collected by accepted methods or best available methods (if the reliability of the method and the nature of the decision justifies use of the data). 104 42 U.S.C. § 300g-1(b)(3)(A). Petitioners contend that, because EPA did not use today's best available science when it promulgated beta/photon MCLs in 1976, it violated § 1412(b)(3)(A)'s best available science requirement (as well as the APA) by retaining those pre-existing MCLs in 2000. What EPA should have done in 2000, petitioners insist, is apply the latest risk assessment model — set out in FGR-13 — to establish uniform risk at a level EPA deemed appropriate. 105 EPA does not dispute that it utilized now-outdated methods to predict mortality and morbidity rates for beta/photon emitters in promulgating the 1976 MCLs. The methodology EPA used in 1976 did not differentiate among various beta/photon emitters and their effects on particular organs within the body. See 65 Fed.Reg. at 21,602-03. The agency further admits that a newer effective dose equivalent methodology, which accounts for a particular organ's sensitivity to radiation, is now available, and that FGR-13 incorporates the newer methodology. See id. ; Respondent's Br. at 83. Indeed, both parties agree that, for purposes of this challenge to the beta/photon MCLs, FGR-13 represents the best available science. See Petitioners' Reply Br. at 45; Respondent's Br. at 83. 106 EPA nonetheless insists that it complied with the SDWA's best available science requirement, because it used FGR-13 for the analysis that led to its 2000 decision to retain the 1976 MCLs. That analysis disclosed that the 1976 MCLs continue in virtually all cases to confine health risks within the acceptable range of between 1 × 10 -4 and 1 × 10 -6 (1 in 10,000 to 1 in 1,000,000) lifetime excess risk of cancer. 65 Fed.Reg. at 21,583, 21,605-14 tbl. II-3. Moreover, EPA also used FGR-13 to evaluate the new beta/photon MCLs that the agency proposed in 1991. EPA decided to retain the 1976 levels in favor of the 1991 proposals because FGR-13 showed that the latter were in almost all cases outside the acceptable range and less protective of human health than the 1976 levels. Id. We see nothing unreasonable about EPA's assertion that this approach was consistent with the best available science, and nothing arbitrary about its decision to retain the 1976 MCLs under these circumstances. 107 Petitioners do not seriously dispute that EPA used the best available science to analyze the health risks posed by the 1976 and proposed 1991 MCLs. 23 Instead, they argue that the best available science should have led the agency to promulgate beta/photon MCLs that provide a uniform level of protection. Although in 1976 EPA thought that the more than 160 beta/photon MCLs it was setting would yield a consistent risk level of 5.6 × 10 -5 for each beta/photon emitter, EPA's current analysis discloses that each M.C.L. actually yields a different risk level. See id. at 21,582 fig.1; id. at 21,605-14 tbl. II-3. Because it is possible to use FGR-13 to establish MCLs with uniform protection levels, petitioners contend that it contradicts the best available science not to do so. 108 But just because science makes a result possible, does not mean that it would contradict the best available science not to achieve it. Indeed, as petitioners conceded at oral argument, there is nothing in the record — neither scientific studies nor anything else — to suggest that the best available science itself requires uniformity in risk protection. Nor is there anything in the SDWA that requires that the level of risk protection provided for each contaminant be the same. Accordingly, whether to insist upon uniformity is a policy judgment that the SDWA leaves to EPA's discretion. 24 109 In this case, EPA concluded that uniformity was not a goal it should strive to achieve for the beta/photon MCLs. The agency noted that to produce uniformity, it would have to undertake an extensive new rulemaking process. 65 Fed.Reg. at 21,581. And it reasonably concluded that such an effort was unnecessary because, while the actual level of risk posed by the 1976 MCLs varies, in virtually all cases it is within the range regarded as acceptable both in 1976 and today, and below the level of risk expected in 1976. See id. at 21,582 fig.1; id. at 21,605-14 tbl. II-3. Of the more than 160 existing MCLs, all but ten yield risks below the agency's upper limit of 1 × 10 -4 . Respondent's Br. at 83; Tape of Oral Argument, Nov. 20, 2002; see also 65 Fed.Reg. at 21,605-14 tbl. II-3. Of those ten, only one (cesium) is likely to be found at decommissioning sites, and none is likely to be found in drinking water. See 65 Fed.Reg. at 21,583; Tape of Oral Argument, Nov. 20, 2002. 110 Uniformity, of course, is not the only thing petitioners are after. Their ultimate aim is to raise at least some of the MCLs, and, accordingly, they argue that the existing MCLs are artificially low and unnecessarily conservative. Petitioners' Br. at 64. Perhaps for this reason, petitioners suggest that EPA had no reasonable basis for distinguishing between the 1976 MCLs and the substantially higher MCLs proposed in 1991. But as noted above, EPA did have a rational basis for preferring the 1976 MCLs over those proposed in 1991: the 1991 proposed levels were in almost all cases less protective of human health than the 1976 levels and outside the range of acceptable cancer risk. 65 Fed.Reg. at 21,583; see id. at 21,582 fig.1; id. at 21,605-14 tbl. II-3. 111 Moreover, although there is nothing in the record to suggest that the best available science requires uniformity, even if it did the anti-backsliding provision of § 1412(b)(9) would still prevent the agency from raising the MCLs above those set in 1976. That provision imposes a limitation on any revision promulgated in accordance with this section, 42 U.S.C. § 300g-1(b)(9), and the best available science provision is a part of the same referenced section, see id. § 300g-1(b)(3)(A). Section (b)(9)'s limitation is as follows: [E]ach revision shall maintain, or provide for greater, protection of the health of persons. Id. § 300g-1(b)(9). Once again, petitioners contend that § (b)(9) does not preclude an increase in an M.C.L. when current science shows that the M.C.L. can be increased without reducing the level of protection the agency initially thought it was providing. See supra Part III.B. And, once again, we accept as reasonable EPA's reading of the section as barring any revision to an existing M.C.L. that does not maintain the level of protection the current M.C.L. actually provides. See id. Hence, EPA could not achieve the uniformity for which petitioners argue without lowering most of the 1976 beta/photon MCLs until they yield the risk level actually provided by the most protective of those MCLs — a result petitioners do not seek and that would defeat their aim in bringing this petition. 112 In sum, we conclude that EPA neither failed in its obligation to use the best available science nor acted arbitrarily or capriciously in retaining the 1976 beta/photon MCLs.