Opinion ID: 683136
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: MCL For Lead at the Tap

Text: 16 The NRDC first contends that, because it is economically and technologically feasible to ascertain the level of lead in water, the Safe Drinking Water Act requires that the EPA set an MCL for lead. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 300f(1)(C); 42 U.S.C. Sec. 300g-1(b)(7). Further, because the tap is the delivery point to the user of a public water system, the NRDC concludes that the MCL must be set at the tap. 17 At bottom the NRDC and the EPA disagree over the meaning of the word feasible as it applies to ascertaining the level of lead in drinking water. The NRDC argues that the Congress clearly expressed its intent that feasible be understood to mean physically capable of being done at reasonable cost; accordingly it argues that the EPA's rule is contrary to the plain meaning of the statute. See Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842-43, 104 S.Ct. at 2781-82. For its part, the EPA does not dispute that it is feasible to monitor lead under the definition advanced by the NRDC; instead the agency interprets feasible to mean capable of being accomplished in a manner consistent with the Act. The agency argues that if public water systems were required to comply with an MCL for lead, they would have to undertake aggressive corrosion control techniques that might reduce the amount of lead leached from customers' plumbing but would also increase the levels of other contaminants. The EPA argues that because the Congress apparently did not anticipate a situation in which monitoring for one contaminant, although possible, is not conducive to overall water quality, it impliedly delegated to the agency the discretion to specify a treatment technique instead of an MCL. 18 We agree with the EPA that the meaning of feasible is not as plain as the NRDC suggests. Although we generally assume that the Congress intends the words it uses to have their ordinary meaning, see Securities Industry Ass'n v. Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System, 468 U.S. 137, 149, 104 S.Ct. 2979, 2985, 82 L.Ed.2d 107 (1984), case law is replete with examples of statutes the ordinary meaning of which is not necessarily what the Congress intended. See, e.g., Young v. Community Nutrition Institute, 476 U.S. 974, 980, 106 S.Ct. 2360, 2364, 90 L.Ed.2d 959 (1986) (EPA's interpretation of unclear statute held rational though not the more natural interpretation); American Mining Congress, 824 F.2d at 1185-86. Indeed, where a literal reading of a statutory term would lead to absurd results, the term simply has no plain meaning ... and is the proper subject of construction by the EPA and the courts. Chemical Manufacturers Association v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 470 U.S. 116, 126, 105 S.Ct. 1102, 1108, 84 L.Ed.2d 90 (1985). If the meaning of feasible suggested by the NRDC is indeed its plain meaning, then this is such a case; for it could lead to a result squarely at odds with the purpose of the Safe Drinking Water Act. 19 The Congress clearly contemplated that an MCL would be a standard by which both the quality of the drinking water and the public water system's efforts to reduce the contaminant could be measured. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 300g-1(b)(5). Because lead generally enters drinking water from corrosion in pipes owned by customers of the water system, an MCL for lead would be neither; ascertaining the level of lead in water at the meter (i.e. where it enters the customer's premises) would measure the public water system's success in controlling the contaminant but not the quality of the public's drinking water (because lead may still leach into the water from the customer's plumbing), while ascertaining the level of lead in water at the tap would accurately reflect water quality but effectively hold the public water system responsible for lead leached from plumbing owned by its customers. 20 We must defer to the EPA's interpretation of feasible if it is reasonable, Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842-43, 104 S.Ct. at 2781-82, and we think that it is. A single national standard (i.e., an MCL) for lead is not suitable for every public water system because the condition of plumbing materials, which are the major source of lead in drinking water, varies across systems and the systems generally do not have control over the sources of lead in their water. In this circumstance the EPA suggests that requiring public water systems to design and implement custom corrosion control plans for lead will result in optimal treatment of drinking water overall, i.e. treatment that deals adequately with lead without causing public water systems to violate drinking water regulations for other contaminants. 56 Fed.Reg. 26,487. 21 Viewing the Act as a whole, we cannot say that the statute demonstrates a clear congressional intent to require that the EPA set an MCL for a contaminant merely because it can be measured at a reasonable cost. In light of the purpose of the Act to promote safe drinking water generally, we conclude that the EPA's interpretation of the term feasible so as to require a treatment technique instead of an MCL for lead is reasonable.