Opinion ID: 551812
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did the EPA Exceed Its Statutory Authority?

Text: 10 Union Carbide's first challenge to the 1986 and 1989 closure regulations is that they contradict Congress' express intent in enacting the 1984 Amendments. The EPA responds that the 1984 Amendments left untouched its pre-existing authority under Sec. 3004(a) of the RCRA to promulgate regulations establishing standards for hazardous waste facilities that it finds necessary to protect human health and the environment. The EPA therefore concludes that it had ample statutory authority to issue both sets of regulations. 6 11 In evaluating the parties' arguments, we must follow the rules laid down in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. NRDC, 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). First, we inquire whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue. Id. at 842, 104 S.Ct. at 2781. In determining whether Congress has so spoken, we must look to the particular statutory language at issue, as well as the language and design of the statute as a whole, K Mart Corp. v. Cartier, Inc., 486 U.S. 281, 291, 108 S.Ct. 1811, 1817, 100 L.Ed.2d 313 (1988), and we must employ the traditional tools of statutory construction, including, where appropriate, legislative history. Ohio v. United States Dept. of the Interior, 880 F.2d 432, 441 (D.C.Cir.1989). If the intent of Congress is clear, we must give it effect. Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842-43, 104 S.Ct. at 2781-82. If, however, the statute is silent or ambiguous on a particular issue, we must defer to the agency's interpretation of the statute if it is reasonable and consistent with the statute's purpose. Id. at 844-45, 104 S.Ct. at 2782-83. 12 The relevant statutory provision in the 1984 Amendments requires interim status surface impoundments to cease receiving, storing, or treating hazardous waste after November 8, 1988, unless they are retrofitted to meet the minimum technological requirements imposed on permitted facilities. RCRA Sec. 3005(j), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6925(j). On its face, this provision certainly does not support Union Carbide's claim that Congress intended to deprive the EPA of authority to require unretrofitted surface impoundments to close once they cease receiving hazardous wastes. 7 There was, however, a brief but controversial exchange between two key senators upon which Union Carbide relies heavily for its argument that the 1984 Amendments do not allow the EPA to prevent such facilities from continuing to receive non-hazardous wastes. Senator Randolph, the ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at the time and a sponsor of the Senate floor amendment that became, with some modifications, Sec. 3005(j), engaged Senator Chafee, the floor manager for the 1984 Amendments, in a colloquy concerning the potential effect of Sec. 3005(j) on existing surface impoundments that do not retrofit to meet the minimum technological requirements for hazardous waste facilities, but wish to continue receiving non-hazardous wastes. See 130 Cong.Rec. 20,847-48 (1984). (This exchange was not actually spoken on the floor of the Senate, as indicated by the bullets surrounding the remarks, but was instead inserted into the Congressional Record.) The colloquy began as follows: 13 Mr. RANDOLPH.... I would like to ask for additional clarification of one point. As I understand one provision in the committee's amendment, a surface impoundment which does not qualify to continue to receive or store hazardous waste after 4 years after enactment may, however, receive nonhazardous waste after that date for storage or disposal. Is that correct? 14 Mr. CHAFEE. Yes, the amendment provides for this. 15 Senator Randolph then described a critical surface impoundment facility located in his native state, West Virginia, that apparently could not be retrofitted and thus would be forced to close down altogether if it were barred from continuing to receive non-hazardous wastes. 8 The colloquy then continued: 16 Mr. RANDOLPH.... As I understand the committee amendment, if hazardous wastes were no longer received at the impoundment after the 4 year date in the amendment, the impoundment could otherwise continue to operate as it has. Does the Senate [sic] agree that this is within the intent of the committee amendment? 17 Mr. CHAFEE. Yes, Senator, I do. It would not be proper to require that impoundment to be closed out permanently prematurely if it can handle wastes that are not hazardous waste while being protective of human health and the environment. 18 According to Union Carbide, this exchange expresses a clear congressional intent to prevent the EPA from generically requiring the closure of unretrofitted surface impoundments that cease to receive hazardous wastes but have capacity to continue receiving non-hazardous wastes. 9 As further evidence thereof, Union Carbide cites the fact that the Senate version of the bill, which was the basis for the Randolph-Chafee colloquy, was ultimately adopted over the House version, which it claims would have required all surface impoundments containing hazardous wastes to either retrofit or close. The EPA responds that at most the colloquy expresses Congress' desire not to statutorily require closure of unretrofitted facilities and that the 1984 Amendments imposed no restraint on the EPA's pre-existing authority under Sec. 3004(a) of the RCRA to issue regulations governing the operation of hazardous waste facilities in the interests of protecting human health and the environment. In support, EPA points to the bottom line of the colloquy__Senator Chafee's comment that closure of an unretrofitted impoundment would not be proper if it could handle non-hazardous wastes while being protective of human health and the environment. The EPA concludes that the 1986 and 1989 closure regulations were based on just such an assessment. 19 We believe that Congress' intent on this issue was not entirely clear, but conclude under the second prong of Chevron that the EPA's interpretation is a reasonable one and is consistent with the purposes of the RCRA and the 1984 Amendments. 10 Although there is no explicit mention in the exchange of the EPA's residual authority under Sec. 3004(a) to regulate to protect human health and the environment, Senator Chafee's closing reservation echoes its theme and strongly suggests that the Senator intended to defer to an authoritative agency assessment of harm to human health and the environment. 11 Moreover, contrary to Union Carbide's assertion, the House bill's provisions on surface impoundments were not substantially different from the Senate bill's provisions. The House would have required that no hazardous waste ... may be placed or maintained in a surface impoundment unless it complied with the new technological standards within four years. 129 Cong.Rec. 27,663 (1983) (emphasis added). The Senate version, by comparison, provided that existing surface impoundments shall not receive, store, or treat hazardous waste unless they comply with the new standards within four years. 130 Cong.Rec. 20,838 (1984) (emphasis added). 12 Although the Conference Committee adopted the Senate's phrasing, there is no indication that the legislators viewed the two versions as being substantially different. 13 In light of the statutory definition of storage, 14 we attach little significance to the conferees' choice of the words receive, store, or treat over the phrase placed or maintained. The ultimate choice of language may well have reflected nothing more than a preference for the more familiar terms store and treat in the RCRA context over the theretofore unused terms in the House bill. 15 In any event, we cannot conclude that Congress, by adopting the Senate's language in Sec. 3005(j), expressly foreclosed the EPA from imposing a retrofit-or-close policy pursuant to its authority elsewhere in the RCRA. 16 20 The explicit statutory policy of the 1984 Amendments discouraging the use of land facilities for the storage and disposal of hazardous wastes further supports the EPA's position that Congress did not intend to impair the EPA's pre-existing authority under Sec. 3004(a) to promulgate regulations necessary for the protection of human health and the environment. The 1984 Amendments state that land disposal [of hazardous wastes], particularly landfill and surface impoundment, should be the least favored method for managing hazardous wastes. RCRA Sec. 1002(b)(7), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901(b)(7) (emphasis added). In furtherance of this statutory policy, Secs. 3004(o ) and 3005(j) of the Amendments imposed stringent new technological requirements on permitted and interim status surface impoundments. To conclude, then, that Congress intended to subject unretrofitted surface impoundments to less stringent standards than other types of land-based hazardous waste facilities, which continue to be subject to the EPA regulations requiring them to close within 180 days of receiving the final volume of hazardous wastes, would be anomalous at best. See 40 C.F.R. Secs. 264.113(b) and 265.113(b). 17 21 For all these reasons we defer to the EPA's interpretation of its authority under Sec. 3004(a) as permitting it to continue to regulate the receipt by unretrofitted surface impoundments of non-hazardous wastes to protect human health and the environment even after the 1984 Amendments as a permissible construction of the statute. See Chevron, 467 U.S. at 843, 104 S.Ct. at 2781. 22