Opinion ID: 3011603
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Emergency Power Under SDWA

Text: Section 1431(a) of SDWA authorizes the EPA Administrator to take action necessary to protect the public's health from an imminent and substantial endangerment created by contaminants in a public water system or an underground source of drinking water. See 42 U.S.C. S 300i(a). However, action by the EPA is only authorized when state and local authorities have not acted first. See id. The legislative history to section 1431(a) demonstrates that Congress intended to confer completely adequate authority to deal promptly and effectively with emergency situations which jeopardize the health of persons using public water systems. H.R. Rep. No. 93-1185 (1974), reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6454, 6487. Congress intended a broad reading of the term imminent to allow the EPA the time it may take to prepare administrative orders or moving papers, to commence and complete litigation, and to permit issuance, notification, implementation, and enforcement of administrative or court orders to protect the public health. Id. at 6488. Moreover, 11 the EPA may take action to prevent even a risk of harm to a public drinking water system. See id.[F]or example, the Administrator may invoke this section when there is an imminent likelihood of the introduction into drinking water of contaminants that may cause health damage after a period of latency. Id. In United States v. Price, 688 F.2d 204 (3d Cir. 1982), we addressed the nature of the EPA's emergency authority under section 1431 of SDWA and under section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42 U.S.C. S 6901 et seq.2 We explained that [b]y enacting the endangerment provisions of RCRA and SDWA, Congress sought to invoke the broad and flexible equity powers of the federal courts in instances where hazardous wastes threatened human health. Price, 688 F.2d at 211. Moreover, these provisions have enhanced the courts' traditional equitable powers by authorizing the issuance of injunctions when there is but a risk of harm, a more lenient standard than the traditional requirement of threatened irreparable harm. Id.; see also Trinity Am. Corp. v. EPA, 150 F.3d 389, 399 (4th Cir. 1998) (recognizing that section 1431 is applicable when the EPA demonstrates an imminent risk of harm); United States v. Waste Indus., Inc., 734 F.2d 159, 165 (4th Cir. 1984) (concluding that section 7003 is not specifically limited to addressing an emergency). Thus, it is well established from the legislative history and case law that SDWA confers on the EPA broad authority to address present and future harm that may substantially threaten the health of persons who use public water systems. Yet, the EPA's emergency power is not without limitation. The same House Report that expresses an intent to confer broad emergency authority on the EPA also explains that, [i]n using the words `imminent and substantial _________________________________________________________________ 2. Using language similar to that found in SDWA, section 7003 of RCRA authorizes the Federal Government to bring suitto restrain certain activities, or to take such other action as may be necessary, when handling, storage, treatment, transportation or disposal of hazardous waste may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment. 42 U.S.C. S 6973. 12 endangerment to the health of persons,' the Committee intends that this broad administrative authority not be used when the system of regulatory authorities provided elsewhere in the bill could be used adequately to protect the public health. H.R. Rep. No. 93-1185 (1974), reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6454, 6487-88. Nor is the emergency authority to be used in cases where the risk of harm is remote in time, completely speculative in nature, or de minimis in degree. Id. at 6488. In Price, we also noted limitations on the EPA's power to act. Price, 688 F.2d at 214. We observed that, under section 7003 of RCRA, the EPA may authorize[ ] the cleanup of a site, even a dormant one, if that action is necessary to abate a present threat to the public health or the environment[,] but that it could not order the cleanup of a waste disposal site which posed no threat to health or the environment. Id. Because the authority conferred . . . by section 1431 of SDWA is quite as broad as that conferred by RCRA, id., we believe the limitations under the latter provision are equally applicable to the former. As is the case with RCRA, the EPA cannot order cleanup under section 1431 of SDWA when there is no threat to the public's health.