Opinion ID: 445104
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: miners' claims

Text: 42
43 The Miners argue that their activities are exempt from NPDES permit requirements because mining is a nonpoint source of pollution and the prohibition against discharge of pollutants, see Sec. 1311(a), applies only to point sources, Sec. 1362(12), defined as any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance ... from which pollutants are or may be discharged. Sec. 1362(14). Another section of the Act discusses nonpoint sources, which encompasses mining activities, including runoff and siltation from new, currently operating, and abandoned surface and underground mines. Sec. 1314(f)(2)(B). These specified activities are not subject to NPDES permit requirements; rather, the Act directs the Administrator only to develop guidelines for identifying and controlling such sources. Thus, the Miners argue that requiring permits for placer mining is beyond the EPA's statutory authority. 44 The Tenth Circuit rejected a similar challenge in United States v. Earth Sciences, Inc., 599 F.2d 368 (10th Cir.1978), a case involving overflow of a toxic leachate solution at a gold mining operation. The court reviewed the legislative history of the Act, and noted that Congress had rejected an amendment that would have regulated mining discharge from point sources on the ground that it duplicated the Act's general regulatory provisions. Id. at 372 (citing Staff of Senate Comm. on Public Works, 93d Cong., 1st Sess., A Legislative History of the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, 530-535 (Comm. Print 1973)). The court observed that 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. Earth Sciences, 599 F.2d at 373. The court concluded that point and nonpoint sources are not distinguished by the kind of pollution they create or by the activity causing the pollution, but rather by whether the pollution reaches the water through a confined, discrete conveyance. Thus, when mining activities release pollutants from a discernible conveyance, they are subject to NPDES regulation, as are all point sources. Id. Accord Sierra Club v. Abston Construction Co., 620 F.2d 41, 44 (5th Cir.1980) (coal strip mines). Here, discharge water is released from a sluice box, a confined channel within the statutory definition. We adopt the analysis of Earth Sciences and hold that the EPA did not exceed its authority in issuing these permits. 45
46 The Act authorized the EPA to promulgate regulations establishing effluent limitations guidelines applicable to specific polluting industries. Secs. 1311, 1314. However, the EPA has not yet promulgated regulations governing the placer mining industry. Rather, the EPA has determined effluent limitations when issuing NPDES permits. Under Sec. 1342(a)(1), the Administrator may issue permits incorporating such conditions as the Administrator determines are necessary to carry out the provisions of this [Act], when no limitations or guidelines are yet available. See United States Steel Corp. v. Train, 556 F.2d 822, 844 (7th Cir.1977); Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Train, 510 F.2d 692, 709-10 (D.C.Cir.1975). 47 The Miners argue that the EPA has used adjudicatory hearings on permit applications to evade its rulemaking responsibilities under the Act. The Miners claim that the EPA's failure to issue effluent guidelines results in prejudice and deprivation of due process in that they have not had the public notice and public input protections of formal rulemaking. The Miners request this court to direct the EPA to promulgate appropriate guidelines prior to issuing individual permits. 48 The Miners' argument is framed in terms of the EPA's failure to comply with a nondiscretionary duty to promulgate industry-wide rules. Other courts have upheld this duty. See, e.g., Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Train, 510 F.2d 692 (D.C.Cir.1975). However, the Act confers jurisdiction on the federal district courts, not courts of appeal, to review any action where there is alleged a failure of the Administrator to perform any act or duty under this Act which is not discretionary with the Administrator. Sec. 1365(a)(2). This grant of jurisdiction is exclusive. In Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources v. EPA, 618 F.2d 991 (3rd Cir.1980), the petitioners sought review in the court of appeals under Sec. 1369(b) (review of final actions of the Administrator) of certain regulations promulgated by the EPA. The court held that the jurisdictional provisions of Secs. 1365(a)(2) and 1369(b) did not overlap. Id.; accord Environmental Defense Fund v. EPA, 598 F.2d 62, 91 (D.C.Cir.1978). Thus, the Miners must bring an action in the district court if they seek to require the EPA to promulgate point source standards. 49
50 The Miners also raise a challenge based on the burden of proof in permit hearings. The Miners contend that the current regulation, 40 C.F.R. Sec. 124.85, requiring a permit applicant to bear the burden of persuading the agency that a permit should issue, is invalid. The Miners contend that under the regulation they are faced with the choice of deciding whether to accept the agency's proposed standards, even if excessive, or to challenge those standards but risk incriminating themselves by admitting their inability to comply with current permit conditions. The Miners argue that this dilemma deprives them of due process. 51 We conclude that this challenge is not moot; the Miners would have no other way of obtaining review if an invalid regulation were applied against them in future hearings. 52 Nonetheless, the Miners have not raised a timely challenge to this regulation. Section 1369(b)(1)(E) authorizes the courts of appeals to review the promulgation of any effluent limitation or other limitation under section 1311, 1312, or 131 of this title. Such challenges must be raised within 90 days, however. [E]ffluent limitation or other limitation has been interpreted to include more than numerical limitations. In National Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. EPA, 673 F.2d 400 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 879, 103 S.Ct. 175, 74 L.Ed.2d 143 (1982), the court, in deciding numerous consolidated challenges to the EPA's Consolidated Permit Regulations, 40 C.F.R. pts. 122-125 (1983), which include the regulation at issue here, held that those regulations were reviewable in the court of appeals under section 1369(b)(1)(E). Id. at 403-405. We adopt the D.C. Circuit Court's analysis in National Resources Defense Council, and thus we conclude that the Miners' claim is time-barred; the regulation in question was promulgated on June 7, 1979, 44 Fed.Reg. 32854. 53
54 The Miners assert that under federal mining laws and Alaska water rights laws they have a protectible property right to run water through their sluice boxes, including a right to cause deterioration in the water quality downstream from their operations, and that Congress did not intend to repeal or modify this right when it enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. Thus, the Miners claim, application of the permit conditions limiting discharge of pollutants results in a taking of their vested property rights without compensation, in violation of the Fifth Amendment. 55 We conclude that this question is not moot because it presents a legal question that is capable of repetition as subsequent permits are issued. However, even if we assume, without deciding, that placer miners have vested property rights in their historical use of water, the Miners have not presented a justiciable claim of an unconstitutional deprivation of property. 56 To determine whether a regulation of use effectuates an unconstitutional taking, we must examine whether the regulation substantially advances a legitimate state interest and whether the regulation allows the owner economically viable use of his property. Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Association, 452 U.S. 264, 295-96, 101 S.Ct. 2352, 2370-71, 69 L.Ed.2d 1 (1981). Clearly the NPDES permit requirements advance an important governmental interest, as articulated in Sec. 1251(a)(1). 57 However, the Miners have failed to present any concrete controversy concerning the application of the permit conditions to any particular operations or to any particular estimates of economic impact and ultimate valuation. See Hodel, 452 U.S. at 295, 101 S.Ct. at 2370. Mere diminution of property value as a result of regulation cannot by itself establish a taking, Agins v. City of Tiburon, 447 U.S. 255, 263 n. 9, 100 S.Ct. 2138, 2143 n. 9, 65 L.Ed.2d 106 (1980), and the Miners have not even alleged that any of their members have been deprived of economically viable use of their property. See Hodel, 452 U.S. at 295-96, 101 S.Ct. at 2370-71. 58
59 The Miners assert that the self-monitoring, reporting, and recordkeeping provisions of their permits infringe on their constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. This challenge is premature. The Supreme Court has announced that the doctrine that a person who claims that government demands for information will violate his privilege against self-incrimination must submit to the demands and expressly invoke the privilege in response to specific matters. Communist Party of the United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board, 367 U.S. 1, 107-08, 81 S.Ct. 1357, 1416-17, 6 L.Ed.2d 625 (1961). See also California Bankers Association v. Shultz, 416 U.S. 21, 73-75, 94 S.Ct. 1494, 1523-1524, 39 L.Ed.2d 812 (1974) (following Communist Party, held that facial challenges to Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirements were premature). Because the Miners have not alleged any claim that the permit conditions were improperly applied in an actual case, we dismiss this challenge as unripe. 60
61 The EPA incorporated in each permit a condition that the permittee must grant the State of Alaska and the EPA a right of access to the permittee's premises and must allow the state and the EPA to inspect the permittee's records. Congress has specifically authorized inspection of NPDES-permitted facilities for the purposes of carrying out the Act's regulatory scheme. 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1318(a). 62 The Miners contend that this permit condition infringes upon their rights under the Fourth Amendment to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. We must dismiss this facial challenge on the ground that it is too speculative. The Miners have not even alleged that any search has occurred. 63 The Supreme Court in Donovan v. Dewey, 452 U.S. 594, 101 S.Ct. 2534, 69 L.Ed.2d 262 (1981), announced that: 64 [T]he Fourth Amendment protects the interest of the owner of property in being free from unreasonable intrusions onto his property by agents of the government. Inspections of commercial property may be unreasonable if they are not authorized by law or are unnecessary for the furtherance of federal interests. 65 .... 66 [A] warrant may not be constitutionally required when Congress has reasonably determined that warrantless searches are necessary to further a regulatory scheme and the federal regulatory presence is sufficiently comprehensive and defined that the owner of commercial property cannot help but be aware that his property will be subject to periodic inspections undertaken for specific purposes. 67 Id. at 599-600, 101 S.Ct. at 2538-2539. This language requires us to reject the Miners' facial challenge to the constitutionality of the permit conditions. The permits are capable of being applied in a constitutional manner. The First Circuit in United States v. Tivian Laboratories, Inc., 589 F.2d 49 (1st Cir.1978), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 942, 99 S.Ct. 2884, 61 L.Ed.2d 312 (1979), rejected a Fourth Amendment defense to the EPA's suit to obtain judicial enforcement of the EPA's request for information under section 1318. The Court noted that section 1318 was not self-enforcing. Upon a company's refusal to comply with a request for information, the EPA must seek a court enforcement order under section 1319(a)(3)(b). Id. at 53.