Opinion ID: 3011603
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Remediation of the Saginaw Aquifer Through

Text: Approach 1 The EPA has also failed to articulate a rational basis for its conclusion that Approach 1 is necessary to protect the health of the Lansing public. The July 29 Order's only finding of fact in support of remediation of the Saginaw aquifer as provided in Approach 1 states: SATET also concluded that the MWDS [Motor Wheel Disposal Site] ammonia contamination in the Saginaw aquifer will cause the Dye WCP to experience influent ammonia concentrations above 1.2 mg/l, which will compromise the WCP's ability to protect human health and comply with current and future drinking water regulations. The SATET concluded that the only way to avoid this risk was through the removal of excess ammonia from the Saginaw aquifer. Unfortunately, it is hardly clear from SATET's report that the only way to protect the public's health is through the removal of excess ammonia. Rather, it appears that there was sharp disagreement among the members of SATET as to whether this form of remediation would be necessary. On appeal, the EPA refers us to the following passage in the Executive Summary of SATET's final report: The ultimate resolution of the Cooperating Parties['] concerns regarding the Saginaw Aquifer and LBW&L operations lies in remediation of the Saginaw Aquifer. While aquifer remediation is proceeding, in the short term, other options can be considered to protect the LBW&L capability to produce safe water in sufficient quantity for its customers. This is the thrust of _________________________________________________________________ does not provide a rational basis for the July 29 Order. First, neither the July 29 Order nor SATET's final report purports to rely upon the recommendation in that report. Second, the report provides no technical data or research demonstrating that ammonia must be kept at those background levels to protect the Lansing public's health. Finally, the report provides no rational explanation for the EPA's decision to settle on a 1.2 mg/l standard. Indeed, if the report is accurate, the EPA should have ordered a 0.5 mg/l standard in its July 29 Order (as it did in its first order issued on February 26, 1999). 17 Approaches 2, 3, and 4. Each of these approaches would be supplements to the treatment options discussed in Approach 1. The fact that the ultimate resolution of the parties' differences lies in a recommendation for Approach 1 does not mean that Approach 1 is the only way to protect the Lansing public's health as the EPA's July 29 Order maintains. Morever, we need more than a conclusory statement from SATET to determine that the EPA did not arbitrarily and capriciously settle on Approach 1 as the only method sufficient to protect the public health. In the draft report, SATET's discussion of Approach 1 ended with a recommendation for a program of data collection (including new monitoring wells) and groundwater modeling to be conducted with the goal of confirming capture of the ammonia plume. If capture could not be confirmed, the draft report continued, the data would be used to decide where additional extraction wells would be needed. In its discussion of Approach 2, SATET's draft report stated that mothballing of selected wells combined with a well-replacement strategy could be an effective method to protect the Lansing public's health. It explained that mothballing the wells with elevated ammonia levels would remove them from the well sequence and any effect on the water supply. The report also stated that well-replacement would prevent contaminants from migrating to the next tier of wells in the field when mothballed wells were shut down. On May 21, 1999, SATET issued its final report recommending that long-term remediation under Approach 1 be adopted to protect the Dye Plant. It recommended using Approaches 2, 3, and 4 only as supplements to Approach 1. Yet the final report provided no rational explanation for recommending remediation of the Saginaw aquifer under Approach 1 when SATET had previously concluded that a combined mothballing and well- replacement strategy under Approach 2 would be an effective method for keeping ammonia concentrations below
18 The discussion of Approaches 1 and 2 in the final report remained largely the same as in the draft report except for two conclusory statements concerning Approach 2. The first was that, [i]n order to avoid . . . complicated control requirements [under Approach 2], cleanup of[the] aquifer [under Approach 1] is essential. The second stated that [r]emoval of ammonia from the well field before it impacts any production wells, as discussed in Approach 1, may be preferable to the complex operational changes required to manage incoming ammonia concentrations [under Approach 2]. SATET provided no reasons for reaching these conclusions in the final report that were not made in the draft report, and we can find no additional findings of fact to back up this change in course. Moreover, we note that the complicated control requirements and complex operational changes referred to are problems the draft SATET report attributed to the blending technique under Approach 2. SATET's final report failed to explain how the problems associated with blending would undermine the value of the mothballing/well-replacement technique that the draft report previously recommended as an effective solution. If mothballing and well-replacement under Approach 2 would be effective, it can hardly be said that removal as provided in Approach 1 is essential. The only explanation for SATET's change in recommendation between the draft and final report appears to be the Lansing Board's opposition to anything other than Approach 1. In its discussion of Approach 2, the final report explains that a blending approach would allow contaminants to enter a drinking water system. The very next sentence explains that [d]uring SATET meetings, LBW&L staff stated that the knowing acceptance of contaminants, however diluted, in the drinking water transmission system, would be unacceptable, and would not be recommended to LBW&L top management or Board of Commissioners. The inference is that the Lansing Board's staff pushed SATET not to recommend a blending process under Approach 2 because blending would allow some contaminants to enter the drinking water system. The Lansing Board's staff also stated at SATET meetings that Approaches 3 and 4 will likely not be acceptable to 19 the LBW&L for reasons such as adverse public perceptions about the quality of source water, the precedent of use of formerly contaminated water for drinking water supply, and the precedent of using drinking water supply wells as pollutant extraction wells. They explained, however, that mothballing with replacement wells, in conjunction with Approach 1 (plume containment and capture and treatment of contaminated water from extraction wells) would likely be recommended to LBW&L top management and Board of Commissioners. Not surprisingly, the final report recommends complete remediation under Approach 1 as the ultimate resolution of the Cooperating Parties['] concerns regarding the Saginaw acquifer and LBW&L operations. The report recommends Approaches 2, 3, and 4 only as supplements to the treatment options discussed in Approach 1. We are left with the firm impression that SATET's support for Approach 1 in the final report is primarily based on the Lansing Board's opposition to any of the other approaches. Such a recommendation is not rationally based on the facts SATET found concerning ammonia contamination in the Saginaw aquifer and the availability of remedies to protect the public's health. We therefore vacate the July 29 Order because it fails to provide a rational explanation for concluding that remediation of the Saginaw aquifer through Approach 1 is necessary to protect the Lansing public's health.5 _________________________________________________________________ 5. Grace has argued that SATET changed its recommendation in the final report in response to pressure from the Safe Drinking Water Branch of the EPA. It appears that the Chief of the Safe Drinking Water Branch, Charlene J. Denys, sent an e-mail to her staff on May 12, 1999 expressing concern that the SATET group was concentrating more on the short-term capacity/treatment of the Lansing public water system as opposed to the long-term remediation of the Saginaw aquifer. She indicated that she would expect any proposal from SATET to include the long-term remediation of the Saginaw aquifer in addition to the shortterm capacity issue and the effect of ammonia on the Dye Plant and its distribution system. We note, however, that the Denys e-mail was sent prior to SATET's completion of even the draft report. We therefore cannot be certain that SATET's change in recommendation between the draft report and the final report was influenced by her e-mail. Instead we observe that SATET's final report itself does not provide a rational explanation for its change in recommendation and conclude that the EPA's decision in reliance upon that report is therefore arbitrary and capricious. 20