Opinion ID: 512567
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Stoughton Landfill

Text: 6 Petitioner city of Stoughton operated its five acre landfill from the mid-1950's until 1978. The record evidence indicates that from 1953 to 1963 the site accepted hazardous waste, including several million gallons of solvents and other liquid organic compounds, from a tire manufacturer. The soils in the area of the site are moderately to highly permeable. The landfill did not have a liner to prevent leaching of contaminants from the landfill to the environment, or a system to collect accumulated leachate. After the closing of the site in 1978, six monitoring wells were placed in and around the landfill. In 1983, sampling of the monitoring wells by the state of Wisconsin detected elevated levels of volatile organic compounds in three of the six wells. 7 In scoring sites for possible inclusion on the NPL, EPA [e]valuate[s] several of the most hazardous substances at the facility independently and enter[s] only the highest score in the [toxicity/persistence] matrix. 40 C.F.R. pt. 300, app. A Sec. 3.4 (1987). In the original scoring of the Stoughton site, EPA used vinyl chloride as the basis for scoring toxicity/persistence. 8 After the publication of the proposed rule, the city of Stoughton filed comments including the results of its own sampling at the site. Based on tests conducted on these samples by laboratories of its own choosing, the city challenged the presence of vinyl chloride, though conceding that observed release of some contaminants to groundwater had occurred. EPA re-evaluated all available data in response to the comments and removed vinyl chloride from the scoring package. Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List (EPA's Response to Public Comments (Sept. 5, 1986), NPL-U2-10-56, reprinted in Joint Appendix (J.A.) 193, 207-10. However, based on Attachment B-2 of the city's comments (a portion of the lab reports) EPA found chloroform to be present at the site and substituted that chemical for vinyl chloride in the toxicity/persistence matrix. This substitution resulted in a score higher than that originally presented by EPA and continued inclusion of the site on the NPL. None of the other chemicals present would have resulted in inclusion. 2 9 City of Stoughton attacks EPA's decision on the theory that the data showing chloroform to be present is invalid, and that the use of invalid data as a basis for administrative action is arbitrary and capricious. The city argues that the use of invalid data is, in itself, an arbitrary and capricious action. Further, it argues that EPA has arbitrarily and capriciously failed to follow its own regulations in that EPA relies only on valid data concerning observed releases. Cf. 49 Fed.Reg. 37070, 37078 (1984). 10 City correctly states the law. The Agency does not contend that it is entitled to rely on invalid data, nor that it may ignore its own regulations. The problem with petitioner's argument is that it is entirely conclusory. The city argues that EPA has acted arbitrarily and capriciously by relying on invalid data. Without the conclusion that the data is invalid, the city has no argument. The record does not demonstrate that the data is invalid. The data showing the presence of chloroform was in fact submitted to EPA by the city. A split of the same sample tested by another lab, using a different methodology, did not reveal chloroform. But this does not establish that the positive result is the invalid one. Of course, it may be invalid. The city's problem is that it may not. EPA's determination to accept the positive result rather than the negative was in fact consistent with its own regulations. The HRS Manual provides that 11 [i]f a contaminant is measured (regardless of frequency ) in groundwater or in a well in the vicinity of the facility at a significantly (in terms of demonstrating that a release has occurred, not in terms of potential effects) higher level than the background level, then quantitative evidence exists, and a release has been observed. 12 40 C.F.R. pt. 300, app. A Sec. 3.1 (1987) (emphasis added). Multiple detections are not required. 13 Furthermore, in the present case it is at least as likely that the positive results were the correct data as it is that the negative results were. In fact, on the record before us, the positive results may be the more dependable, since that lab used detection methods for concentrations of 1 ug/1 or greater, while the lab not finding chloroform to be present used detection methods revealing only concentrations of 5 ug/1 or greater. City of Stoughton Landfill Analyses of Volatile Organic Compounds in Groundwater Monitoring Wells at 1-4 (Dec. 8, 1984), NPL-U2-3-500, reprinted in J.A. 178-82. Thus, chloroform at levels between 1 and 5 ug/1 would not have been detected by the laboratory submitting negative results. 14 Finally, Stoughton argues that it should have been given a further opportunity to comment on the adjusted scoring of the site. There is no merit to this claim. We have previously held that an agency may make changes in its proposed rule on the basis of comments without triggering a new round of comments, at least where the changes are a logical outgrowth of the proposal and previous comments. See NRDC v. Thomas, 838 F.2d 1224, 1242 (D.C.Cir.1988); Small Refiner Lead Phase-Down Task Force v. EPA, 705 F.2d 506, 547 (D.C.Cir.1983), and cases cited therein. 3 15 Certainly, EPA could have permitted further comment or conducted further testing. Either course would have consumed further assets of the Agency and would have delayed a determination of the risk priority associated with the site. Yet as we have recognized elsewhere, the NPL is simply a rough list of priorities, assembled quickly and inexpensively to comply with Congress' mandate for the Agency to take action straightaway. Eagle-Picher II, 759 F.2d at 932. Once again, we determine that EPA's decision to reconcile the need for certainty before action with the need for inexpensive, expeditious procedures to identify potentially hazardous sites ... is reasonable and fully in accord with congressional intent. Eagle-Picher I, 759 F.2d at 921. 16 In sum, we conclude that petitioner has not demonstrated that EPA acted arbitrarily, capriciously, or in violation of law in placing the Stoughton Landfill on the NPL.