Opinion ID: 551812
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Are the Regulations Arbitrary and Capricious?

Text: 23 Union Carbide also attacks the 1986 and 1989 closure regulations as arbitrary and capricious. We reject these challenges as well. Initially, we note that Union Carbide challenges these regulations only as they apply to unretrofitted surface impoundments; moreover, some of Union Carbide's arguments apply only to the 1986 closure regulations and not to the 1989 revised closure regulations. 18 24 1. Did EPA Fail to Consider the Useful Capacity of Unretrofitted Surface Impoundments for Continued Disposal of Non-hazardous Wastes? 25 Union Carbide charges that the EPA failed to consider the continued usefulness of unretrofitted surface impoundments that cease to receive hazardous wastes but retain capacity to receive non-hazardous wastes. Curiously, this argument ignores the fact that the principal if not the entire purpose of the EPA's 1989 revision of the closure regulations was to accommodate CMA's and Union Carbide's objections to the stark retrofit-or-close rule embodied in the 1986 regulations. Under the 1989 closure regulations, unretrofitted surface impoundments may remain open to receive non-hazardous wastes so long as they are emptied of accumulated hazardous wastes. The preamble to the 1989 regulations as initially proposed in 1988 clearly indicates that the EPA undertook the process of revision because it now agreed that there were a number of sound policy reasons why it is desirable to allow units to delay closure to continue to receive non-hazardous waste, provided that it does not jeopardize protection of human health and the environment. 53 Fed.Reg. 20,739 (June 6, 1988). Among these policy reasons were avoiding disincentives to waste minimization in certain situations, preventing unnecessary disruption of operations at facilities with remaining capacity, and avoiding the imposition of unnecessary economic burdens on facility operators. Id. Similar statements can be found in the EPA's responses to comments by those objecting to the proposed revisions and in the preamble to the final rule. See EPA's Response to Comments to June 6, 1988 Proposed Rule at 62-63, J.A. 312-13; 54 Fed.Reg. 33,382 (Aug. 14, 1989). There is, then, simply no support in the record for Union Carbide's assertion that the EPA adopted the 1989 closure regulations without taking account of remaining capacity or utility of facilities for receiving non-hazardous wastes. 26 2. Did EPA Fail to Justify Adequately the Requirement that Unretrofitted Surface Impoundments Be Emptied of Hazardous Wastes in Order to Remain Open? 27 Union Carbide's next line of attack against the closure regulations is that the EPA failed to justify adequately the requirement in the 1989 regulations that unretrofitted surface impoundments be emptied of hazardous wastes if they wish to remain open to receive non-hazardous wastes. More specifically, Union Carbide asserts that the record (1) reveals no analysis of the actual likelihood of leaks from facilities that are not emptied of hazardous wastes, and (2) contains no indication that the EPA considered alternatives such as groundwater monitoring, corrective action, and financial assurance requirements that could provide adequate protection of human health and the environment. As a result, it charges that the EPA has failed to meet the requirement of reasoned decisionmaking imposed by the APA and judicial precedent. See, e.g., International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union v. Donovan, 722 F.2d 795, 815-18 (D.C.Cir.1983). 28 The record, however, paints a different picture. As to the specific alternatives Union Carbide mentions, the EPA discussed and rejected each one as inadequate to protect human health and the environment. See 54 Fed.Reg. 33,382-83 (Aug. 14, 1989); EPA's Response to Comments to June 6, 1988 Proposed Rule at 7-10, J.A. 257-60. The reason given by the EPA for rejecting these alternatives also refutes Union Carbide's allegation that the EPA failed to analyze the likelihood of leaks from unretrofitted surface impoundments that continue to store hazardous wastes. At several points in the record, the EPA explained that the accumulation of additional quantities of non-hazardous wastes on top of hazardous wastes significantly increases the risk of leaks because wastes in surface impoundments typically take the form of liquids or partial solids surrounded by liquids. Leachate is most likely to emanate from liquid or semiliquid wastes, and the continued accumulation of liquids in a surface impoundment tends to form a pressure head that forces downward dispersion of the leachate at the bottom. If an impoundment is unlined or inadequately lined, containment in such situations often is not possible. See Closure/Post-closure and Financial Responsibility Requirements (EPA 1986 Background Information Document) at 91-93, J.A. 111-13; 51 Fed.Reg. 16,432 (May 2, 1986); 54 Fed.Reg. 33,382 (Aug. 14, 1989). Thus, the EPA concluded in 1989, surface impoundments must either meet the minimum technological requirements of RCRA Sec. 3004(o ), which are designed to reduce significantly the risk of leaks, or remove accumulated hazardous wastes before continuing to receive non-hazardous wastes. 19 See 54 Fed.Reg. 33,382 (Aug. 14, 1989). The EPA's analysis of the pressure head syndrome was obviously based on research described in greater detail in an earlier set of hazardous waste regulations under the RCRA. See 48 Fed.Reg. 14,486 (April 4, 1983). 20 29 It is not the role of courts to second-guess the scientific judgments of the EPA, State of New York v. EPA, 852 F.2d 574, 580 (D.C.Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1065, 109 S.Ct. 1338, 103 L.Ed.2d 809 (1989), and we give considerable latitude to the EPA in drawing conclusions from scientific and technological research, even where it is imperfect or preliminary. Ethyl Corp. v. EPA, 541 F.2d 1, 28 (D.C.Cir.1976), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 941, 96 S.Ct. 2663, 49 L.Ed.2d 394 (1976). Union Carbide neither refers to the research conducted by the EPA nor provides any reason why this court should not credit the EPA's scientific conclusions based thereon. Further, the EPA's conclusions are consistent with Congress' own finding that surface impoundments are not capable of assuring long-term containment of certain hazardous wastes, RCRA Sec. 1002(b)(7), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901(b)(7), and the EPA's action here fully accords with Congress' determination that preventive measures should be preferred over corrective action in the area of hazardous waste management. One of the RCRA's explicit objectives is requiring that hazardous waste be properly managed in the first instance[,] thereby reducing the need for corrective action at a future date, RCRA Sec. 1003(a)(5), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6902(a)(5), for if hazardous waste management is improperly performed in the first instance, corrective action is likely to be expensive, complex, and time consuming.... RCRA Sec. 1002(b)(6), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901(b)(6). 30 In light of all this, we believe the EPA has demonstrated that it examine[d] the relevant data and articulate[d] a satisfactory explanation for its action including a 'rational connection between the facts found and the choice made.'  Motor Vehicles Mfrs. Ass'n v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 2866, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983) (quoting Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States, 371 U.S. 156, 168, 83 S.Ct. 239, 245, 9 L.Ed.2d 207 (1962)). 31 3. Is the Requirement that Unretrofitted Surface Impoundments Close or Be Emptied Irrational and Inconsistent with Other EPA Regulations? 32 Union Carbide also asserts that the EPA's justifications for the closure regulations, even if taken at face value, cut too wide a swath because they apply equally to all surface impoundments, including those that are built or retrofitted to meet the minimum technological requirements imposed in 1984 and that are not required to close or be emptied of hazardous wastes. Union Carbide places special emphasis on the EPA's statement in the preamble to the final 1986 closure regulations (not repeated in the 1989 regulations) that all liners will eventually leak and that closure and capping thus is critical for the long term control of the unit. 51 Fed.Reg. 16,432 (May 2, 1986). Be that as it may, the EPA's principal justification for regulating the continued delivery of non-hazardous wastes to unretrofitted surface impoundments has always stressed the special incremental risk of leaks from such units. See id.; 54 Fed.Reg. 33,382 (Aug. 14, 1989). It comes down to a judgment that all land disposal of hazardous wastes is risky, but some forms are riskier than others. We think the EPA has authority under the RCRA to differentiate between degrees of risk in regulating hazardous waste facilities. 33 The special danger posed by hazardous waste surface impoundments, combined with the RCRA's obvious preference for prevention over correction, also helps to explain the seemingly anomalous result that surface impoundments that comply with the minimum technological requirements are allowed to continue operating even when they leak, while unretrofitted impoundments are required to either close or be emptied of accumulated hazardous wastes even when they do not leak. The different results are dictated by the different levels of ex ante risks involved in the two situations. It was thus not irrational for the EPA to conclude that the goal of prevention is best served in the first situation by mandating that all surface impoundments intending to continue receiving hazardous wastes meet stringent technological requirements, with correction of any leaks that occur despite the precautions as a secondary safety valve, while prevention is best served in the second situation by requiring either closure or emptying of unretrofitted facilities even when they are not presently leaking. 34 Finally, Union Carbide claims that the EPA acted irrationally in failing to require the closure or emptying of landfills that do not meet the RCRA's minimum technological requirements while imposing such a requirement on surface impoundments. Again, however, the pressure head scenario provides the explanation. Liquids, whether or not they contain or are classified as hazardous wastes, generally are banned from placement or disposal in landfills, see RCRA Sec. 3004(c), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6924(c), and landfills are therefore significantly less likely than surface impoundments to form pressure heads and to suffer the leachate problems associated with pressure heads. See EPA's Response to Comments to June 6, 1988 Proposed Rule at 14, J.A. 264. Further, Congress itself recognized that more stringent regulation of surface impoundments was needed when it decided, in enacting the 1984 Amendments, to require existing surface impoundments, but not existing landfills, either to meet the technological requirements of Sec. 3004(o ) or to stop receiving hazardous wastes. See RCRA Sec. 3005(j), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6925(j); 54 Fed.Reg. 33,383 (Aug. 14, 1989). 35 We therefore conclude that the EPA acted rationally in imposing more stringent closure requirements on unretrofitted surface impoundments than on landfills or on surface impoundments that meet the minimum technological requirements mandated by the 1984 Amendments. 36 4. Did EPA Use the Wrong Legal Standard in Promulgating the 1989 Regulations? 37 Union Carbide next asserts that the EPA relied on a standard of significantly improve[d] protection of human health and the environment in promulgating the closure regulations rather than on the statutorily-mandated standard of necessary to protect human health and the environment. See RCRA Sec. 3004(a), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6924(a). The EPA agrees that the latter standard is the one it is required to apply under the RCRA, but rejects the contention that it failed to apply it. 38 The only language cited by Union Carbide in support of its charge is contained in the preamble to the 1986 closure regulations, where the EPA stated that the expeditious closure of hazardous waste disposal surface impoundments after they are no longer receiving hazardous waste for disposal would significantly improve protection of human health and the environment. 51 Fed.Reg. 16,432 (May 2, 1986). By contrast, the final 1989 closure regulations, as well as the proposed version of the regulations and EPA's responses to commenters, contain nothing to indicate that the EPA applied any standard other than the one mandated by Sec. 3004(a), the language of which, in fact, is quoted or paraphrased in a number of places in the preamble to the regulations. See, e.g., 54 Fed.Reg. 33,376, 33,379, 33,382 (Aug. 14, 1989). Even if the EPA's statement in 1986 is taken into account, Union Carbide's argument that it reflects the EPA's dependence on an improper legal standard must be rejected. Although the EPA did state that the closure regulations would significantly improve protection of human health and the environment, it immediately preceded this remark with one stating unequivocally that it was promulgating the regulations pursuant to its authority to promulgate regulations as necessary to protect human health and the environment. 51 Fed.Reg. 16,432 (May 2, 1986). More importantly, the explanations provided by the EPA in the immediately succeeding paragraphs indicate that it believed the closure regulations were the only means of ensuring that human health and the environment would be protected adequately, given the leakage risks associated with facilities that are equipped neither with the technology required by Sec. 3004(o ) nor with the final cap required to be installed at the end of the facility's life. Id. Although it is true that the EPA changed its tune in 1989 to the extent of permitting unretrofitted surface impoundments to remain open so long as they removed accumulated hazardous wastes, this does not indicate that it was applying the wrong legal standard in 1986. 39 5. Did the 1989 Regulations Constitute a Reversal of Policy Without Adequate Support in the Record? 40 Union Carbide argues finally that the 1986 and 1989 closure regulations constituted a reversal of the EPA's prior policy, which, as noted earlier, Union Carbide interpreted as allowing for the continued receipt of non-hazardous wastes after the final receipt of hazardous wastes at a facility. Union Carbide claims that nothing in the rulemaking record provides any justification for this reversal of policy. See State Farm, supra, 463 U.S. at 41-42, 103 S.Ct. at 2865-66. The EPA claims that the changes did not constitute a reversal of policy but merely clarified an ambiguity in the original regulations. In addition, the EPA argues that even if it did reverse its prior policy, the record amply justifies the new regulatory path. 41 Neither party has provided specific evidence that, between promulgation of the 1981 and 1986 versions of the closure regulations, the EPA acted affirmatively in a way that supports or undermines its present interpretation of the original regulations. Such inaction undercuts Union Carbide's policy reversal argument to the extent it indicates that the EPA had no settled course of behavior. See id. at 41, 103 S.Ct. at 2866. Additionally, Union Carbide must buck the doctrine that [a]n agency's interpretation of its own regulations will be accepted unless it is plainly wrong. General Carbon Co. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Comm'n, 860 F.2d 479, 483 (D.C.Cir.1988). Although the language of the 1981 closure regulations seems more naturally to support Union Carbide's interpretation than the EPA's, we cannot say that the EPA's position, that the word wastes in Secs. 264.113(b) and 265.113(b) as originally promulgated was meant to refer back to the words hazardous wastes in Secs. 264.113(a) and 265.113(a), is plainly wrong. It should also be noted that the EPA is not proposing its interpretation of the 1981 closure regulations for the first time in this court, but advanced it at the time it promulgated the 1986 closure regulations. See 51 Fed.Reg. 16,43 1 (May 2, 1986). 42 Union Carbide points to a statement in a June 26, 1990 Federal Register notice as indicating that the EPA has in fact acknowledged that the 1986 revisions represented a reversal of policy. This notice characterized the 1986 closure regulations as more stringent than the 1981 regulations. 55 Fed.Reg. 25,977 (June 26, 1990). But the same notice also reiterated the EPA's position that the 1986 regulations were meant to clarify the existing closure regulations and to conform Secs. 264.113(b) and 265.113(b) with the requirements of Secs. 264.113(a) and 265.113(a). Id. The more stringent language apparently was included for technical reasons: a change that is classified as more stringent is mandatory on states with hazardous waste management programs approved under RCRA Sec. 3006, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6926, and prevents the possibility that those states might apply the laxer standard suggested by Union Carbide's reading of the 1981 regulations. In light of the deference owed to the EPA's interpretation of its regulations, we believe this explanation suffices. 43 In sum, the 1986 and 1989 closure regulations seem more accurately classified as extension[s] of current regulation[s] than as rescission[s] of prior action. See State Farm, supra, 463 U.S. at 42, 103 S.Ct. at 2866. But even if the higher standard of scrutiny applicable to reversals is applied, we believe the EPA's justifications for the 1989 regulations are sufficient and are supported by Congress' adoption of the 1984 Amendments, which, as we have seen, significantly strengthened the EPA's regulatory powers under the RCRA in general and, more particularly, announced a strong policy against reliance on land disposal of hazardous wastes.