Opinion ID: 201086
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Inconsistency with Federal Law

Text: There is a second reason why the district court was correct to dismiss Ten Taxpayer's complaint. Even if our interpretation of state law is incorrect and one or more of the cited Massachusetts statutes does require a permit for the SMDS, there is a further question: whether that requirement should be incorporated and enforced as federal law under 43 U.S.C. § 1333(a)(2)(A). We conclude that it should not. Under § 1333(a)(2)(A), the Massachusetts statutes cited by Ten Taxpayer apply on the outer Continental Shelf, if at all, solely as surrogate federal law. Id.; see also Gulf Offshore, 453 U.S. at 480 (All law applicable to the Outer Continental Shelf is federal law . . . .). But under the OCSLA, state laws are not 14 We recognize that under DEM regulations, it is the Commissioner of the DEM and not the Ocean Sanctuaries Coordinator who is formally empowered to make determinations regarding the applicability of permit requirements to particular situations. See Mass. Regs. Code tit. 302, § 5.09(4). Nevertheless, we are satisfied that Gildesgame's letters to counsel for Ten Taxpayer represent the official position of the DEM concerning the Commonwealth's jurisdiction over Horseshoe Shoals. Ten Taxpayer has not disputed that the letters represent the agency's position. Moreover, prior to filing the instant lawsuit, Ten Taxpayer notified both the Commissioner of the DEM and the Massachusetts Attorney General of its intent to sue. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 214, § 7A (requiring such notice). Despite this notice, neither the Commissioner nor the Attorney General sought to intervene in this action or initiate an enforcement proceeding against Cape Wind. -26- adopted as surrogate federal law to the extent that they are inconsistent with [the OCSLA] or with other Federal laws . . . . Id.; see also Rodrigue, 395 U.S. at 355-56 (explaining that state law applies to fixed structures on the outer Continental Shelf only as federal law and then only when not inconsistent with applicable federal law). In our view, the OCSLA leaves no room for states to require licenses or permits for the erection of structures on the seabed on the outer Continental Shelf. Congress retained for the federal government the exclusive power to authorize or prohibit specific uses of the seabed beyond three miles from shore. See § 1333(a)(3) (The provisions of this section for adoption of State law as the law of the United States shall never be interpreted as a basis for claiming any interest in or jurisdiction on behalf of any State for any purpose over the seabed and subsoil of the outer Continental Shelf . . . .). If adopted and enforced on the outer Continental Shelf, statutes like Mass. Gen. Laws chs. 91 and 132A, which require the approval of state agencies prior to construction, would effectively grant state governments a veto power over the disposition of the national seabed. That result is fundamentally inconsistent with the OCSLA. See id. § 1332(3) (declaring it to be the policy of the United States that the outer Continental Shelf is a vital national reserve held by the Federal Government for the public, which should be made available for expeditious and orderly -27- development, subject to environmental safeguards, in a manner which is consistent with the maintenance of competition and other national needs (emphasis added)). Ten Taxpayer contends that the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which was enacted after the OCSLA, changed this calculus by defining the body of water commonly known as Nantucket Sound to be within the jurisdiction and authority of Massachusetts. See 16 U.S.C. § 1856(a)(2)(B). Yet nothing in the Magnuson-Stevens Act purports to repeal or amend the OCSLA. Cf. Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Maine, 75 F.3d 784, 790 (1st Cir. 1996) (implied repeal of federal statutes is disfavored). On the contrary, the two statutes can readily coexist: the Magnuson-Stevens Act authorizes Massachusetts to regulate fishing-related conduct throughout Nantucket Sound, but the subsoil and seabed of the outer Continental Shelf, and artificial islands and fixed structures erected thereon, 43 U.S.C. § 1333(a)(2)(A), remain the exclusive province of the federal government. Congress was perfectly clear in the Magnuson-Stevens Act that it did not intend to alter the rights of the United States in the outer Continental Shelf. See 16 U.S.C. § 1801(c)(1) (declaring it to be the policy of Congress in the Magnuson-Stevens Act to maintain without change the existing territorial or other ocean jurisdiction of the United States for all purposes other than the conservation and management of fishery resources). -28- We conclude that any Massachusetts permit requirement that might apply to the SMDS project is inconsistent with federal law and thus inapplicable on Horseshoe Shoals under the OCSLA. The district court did not err in dismissing Ten Taxpayer's complaint.