Opinion ID: 2831571
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Klingenstein’s Declarations

Text: STABL argues that the district court erred by considering Klingenstein’s declarations regarding the effluent-limitation violations. Although Klingenstein did opine that, based on the DMRs, STABL’s discharges exceeded the limitations in its permit, his declarations were not necessary to establish those violations. The DMRs, which were not sufficiently impeached, themselves established liability for at least some of the effluent-limitation violations by way of a simple comparison of the reported data with STABL’s permit. STABL argues that the DMRs are indecipherable without Klingenstein’s explanatory declarations. We disagree. Even if the underlying monitoring records containing the sampling data required explanation, STABL’s actual DMRs are legible, and the meaning of the data reported -12- therein is straightforward. Thus, the district court’s consideration of Klingenstein’s declarations constituted harmless error, if error at all. See Winter v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., 739 F.3d 405, 411 (8th Cir. 2014) (holding that considering inadmissible evidence is harmless error when that evidence is cumulative of other, admissible evidence).