Opinion ID: 392657
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Tenth Amendment Objections

Text: 16 P. G. County argues that the three challenged district court orders violate principles of federalism embodied in the tenth amendment and affirmed in National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833, 96 S.Ct. 2465, 49 L.Ed.2d 245 (1976). Appellant alleges that the April 25 and June 4 orders of the district court usurped the power of the WSSC to control its own budget, thereby intruding upon an integral function of a state agency. It further alleges that the June 27 order, by prohibiting further collateral challenges to Site 2 in state courts, usurped the power of the state of Maryland to protect the public health and safety of its citizens. Arguing that the Clean Water Act allocated the primary responsibility for eliminating water pollution to the states, appellant concludes that the broad control over the development of Site 2 asserted by the district court exceeded both its powers under the Act and its equity jurisdiction. We find these arguments without merit. 17 In National League of Cities v. Usery, the Supreme Court held that extension of the Fair Labor Standard Act's minimum wage and maximum hour provisions to state employees was an impermissible exercise of the commerce power because it impaired state sovereignty guaranteed by the tenth amendment. In a plurality opinion the Court held that the power to determine the wages and hours of employees was an integral state function, essential to the separate and independent existence of the states. Justice Blackmun, concurring, interpreted the plurality opinion as mandating a balancing approach, protecting states from federal intrusion only where the federal interest did not outweigh the state interest. Justice Blackmun thought it apparent that National League of Cities does not outlaw federal power in areas such as environmental protection, where the federal interest is demonstrably greater and where state compliance with imposed federal standards would be essential. 426 U.S. at 856, 96 S.Ct. at 2476. 18 We agree that whatever the precise limits of the state sovereignty doctrine set forth in National League of Cities, 9 it clearly does not control where, as here, the federal interest has long been recognized as overriding. 10 The Supreme Court has recently described the 1972 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act as a comprehensive program for controlling and abating water pollution. City of Milwaukee v. Illinois, --- U.S. ----, 101 S.Ct. 1784, 1793, 68 L.Ed.2d 114 (1981) (quoting Train v. City of New York, 420 U.S. 35, 37, 95 S.Ct. 839, 841, 43 L.Ed.2d 1 (1975)). While it is clear that Congress contemplated that the states would play an active role in this effort, it is equally clear it did not contemplate that a subdivision of one state would have the power to block a regional plan for sewage disposal, thereby causing injury not only to its own state government but to neighboring states as well. Cf. United States v. Duracell International, Inc., 510 F.Supp. 154 (M.D.Tenn.1981) (rejecting tenth amendment challenge to provision of Clean Water Act holding liable any state which prevents municipality from complying with Act). 19 The courts have recognized the breadth of this federal interest and have upheld federal environmental legislation which, like the Clean Water Act, requires state implementation while leaving the states latitude to make essential choices. See United States v. Ohio Department of Highway Safety, 635 F.2d 1195 (6th Cir. 1980), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 101 S.Ct. 2031, 68 L.Ed.2d 334 (1981) (upholding authority of EPA under Clean Air Act to require a state to deny registration to vehicles which have not passed mandatory inspection); District of Columbia v. Train, 521 F.2d 971 (D.C.Cir.1975), vacated as moot sub nom. EPA v. Brown, 431 U.S. 99, 97 S.Ct. 1635, 52 L.Ed.2d 166 (1977) (same). 11 When necessary the courts have exercised broad equitable powers to ensure state compliance with federal environmental laws, even where the exercise of such powers has necessitated the bypassing of normal state decisional processes. Thus after Detroit failed to comply with a consent decree concerning sewage disposal, the district court appointed the Mayor of Detroit as administrator of the treatment plant, and directed him to act without the necessity of any actions on the part of the Common Council of the City of Detroit when in the judgment of the Administrator the same might unavoidably delay or impede compliance. United States v. City of Detroit, 476 F.Supp. 512, 515 (E.D.Mich.1979); cf. Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Assn., 443 U.S. 658, 99 S.Ct. 3055, 61 L.Ed.2d 823 (1979) (sanctioning district court's direct supervision of state fisheries where necessary to secure compliance with its order recognizing Indian rights). 20 The weakness of appellant's federalism argument is underscored by the fact that it, along with other regional jurisdictions, agreed that the district court should have continuing authority to enforce the 1974 consent decree. P. G. County voluntarily intervened in the initial suit in 1973 and was a signatory to the consent decree which emerged from that suit. Like the other parties to that agreement, appellant failed to comply with the deadlines it had agreed to meet, thereby necessitating enforcement of the agreement by the district court. The tenth amendment cannot be used to bar the very enforcement mechanism agreed to in 1974. Cf. Brown v. Neeb, 25 Fair Empl. Prac. Cases 267 (Lab.Rel.Rep. BNA), 644 F.2d 551 (6th Cir. 1981) (affirming district court order requiring city, which had ordered layoffs from fire department due to budget crisis, to comply with prior consent decree concerning hiring of minorities by making layoffs proportionate to racial composition of the department, even though collective bargaining agreement and state law provided that layoffs should be on basis of seniority). 21 Thus we find that the district court did not exceed its statutory or equitable authority and that no interest protected by the tenth amendment has been infringed.