Opinion ID: 202809
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: tug escort requirements

Text: The United States argues that the state's tug escort provisions, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6, are in conflict with regulations promulgated under Title I, see 33 C.F.R. § 165.100(d)(1). The asserted conflict is that the Coast Guard has made a preemptive choice in these regulations that tug escort requirements be set by the Coast Guard on a regional basis, covering all of the First Coast Guard District. [18] The state tug escort statute has three key provisions. It applies only to area[s] of special interest within the waters of the commonwealth, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6(a), which include Buzzards Bay, Vineyard Sound, and Mount Hope Bay, [19] id. § 1. Further, the statute prohibits a tank vessel carrying 6000 or more barrels of oil from entering or transiting such waters unless the tank vessel is accompanied by a tugboat escort. Id. § 6(a). Finally, the section does not apply to a self-propelled tank vessel. Id. § 6(b). The United States makes two preliminary arguments that we quickly reject. First, the United States attempts to redefine what is meant by conflict preemption in the Title I context. It argues that once the Coast Guard promulgates regulations on a subject, that ends the matter; there is essentially no room for any further preemption analysis. For example, the United States argues that State regulatory authority does not survive once the Secretary establishes federal regulations under Title I. [20] The argument overreaches. [21] As pointed out by the state amici, the position of the United States converts Locke 's Title I conflict preemption analysis into something resembling a field preemption analysis. The United States' argument largely destroys the distinction between the two preemption models set forth in Locke, 529 U.S. at 109-10, 120 S.Ct. 1135, as discussed above. Perhaps the United States means only that if the Coast Guard Title I regulations had expressly preempted the state statute, courts would view the matter under a different model. An agency's preemption judgment is dispositive on the question of implicit intent to pre-empt unless either the agency's position is inconsistent with clearly expressed congressional intent, or subsequent developments reveal a change in that position. Hillsborough County v. Automated Med. Labs., Inc., 471 U.S. 707, 714-15, 105 S.Ct. 2371, 85 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985) (citation omitted). Nonetheless, judicial review of that judgment would still be available. See City of New York v. FCC, 486 U.S. 57, 63-64, 108 S.Ct. 1637, 100 L.Ed.2d 48 (1988). A court would review whether the agency's decision to preempt constitutes a reasonable accommodation of conflicting policies . . . committed to [its] care and whether it appears from the statute or its legislative history that the accommodation is not one that Congress would have sanctioned. Id. at 64, 108 S.Ct. 1637 (quoting United States v. Shimer, 367 U.S. 374, 383, 81 S.Ct. 1554, 6 L.Ed.2d 908 (1961)) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Fid. Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 153-54, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 73 L.Ed.2d 664 (1982). As we explain, the district court should engage in this review on remand. The United States secondly suggests that Massachusetts' tug escort provisions are statutorily preempted by the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998 (CGAA), Pub.L. No. 105-383, 112 Stat. 3411, under which Congress, apparently frustrated that the Coast Guard had not acted under Title I as to waters in the Northeast, ordered the Coast Guard to do so. Section 311(b)(1)(A) of the CGAA provides that [n]ot later than December 31, 1998, the [Coast Guard] shall promulgate regulations for towing vessel and barge safety for the waters of the Northeast. Id. at 3423 (emphasis added). The statutory phrase is not an expression of intent by Congress that any such Coast Guard regulationsregardless of scope, subject matter, or expression of intent to preemptwould occupy the field. It is a command to the Coast Guard to promulgate certain types of regulations, which it already had authority to do under Title I. The pertinent federal regulations cover the whole of the First Coast Guard District, including Massachusetts. 33 C.F.R. § 165.100(d)(1)(i), (ii) (effective January 29, 1999); 63 Fed.Reg. 71,764, 71,771 (Dec. 30, 1998). The regulations require that single-hull tank barges, unless being towed by a twin-screw propulsion primary towing vessel (with separate power for each screw), must be accompanied by a tugboat escort. [22] 33 C.F.R. § 165.100(d)(1)(i). The federal regulations specifically exclude double-hull tank barges from the tug escort requirement. Id. § 165.100(d)(1)(ii). The United States argues that Massachusetts' tug escort provisions for sensitive waters are preempted because they are inconsistent with the Coast Guard's regulatory choice that the topic of tug escorts in Northeast waters be regulated on a regional basis. A federal agency's choice in favor of national or regional regulation is a ground for conflict preemption. See Locke, 529 U.S. at 109-10, 120 S.Ct. 1135. Significantly, the United States has not argued on appeal that it would literally be impossible for ships to comply with both the state statute and federal regulations concerning tug escorts. [23] The state responds on two fronts. The first argument is that there is no conflict preemption here because the Coast Guard regulations do not impose a local navigation rule, as does Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6. The state asserts that its law is valid if the Coast Guard has not adopted a rule regarding the particular waters addressed by the challenged state law. In essence, the state reads Ray to say that Title I conflict preemption requires an exact coincidence between the subject matters of the federal and state regulations. Ray says no such thing. Although Ray did express an interest in whether the Secretary had promulgated his own tug requirement for Puget Sound,  435 U.S. at 171, 98 S.Ct. 988 (emphasis added), the Court did not hold that an exact coincidence in subject matter was required to find conflict preemption, id. at 171-72, 174-75, 98 S.Ct. 988. Indeed, there was no federal regulation in Ray purporting to regulate the use of tug escorts specifically in Puget Sound, nor was there a federal regulation covering a broader area which included Puget Sound. [24] Id. at 171-72, 98 S.Ct. 988. Here, the federal regulations contain within their breadth the narrower group of waters which are the subject of state regulation. Crucially, the state's argument contains an assumption that federal regulation on a regional basis is disfavored, and that there is a presumption in favor of state regulation of local waters. Not so, as Locke makes clear. 529 U.S. at 108, 120 S.Ct. 1135. As it is framed, the state's argument is untenable. More generally, the state argues that the Coast Guard has not determined that 33 C.F.R. § 165.100(d)(1) preempts the state tug escort rule at issue. The initial question is whether the Coast Guard has expressed an intent to preempt Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6. The United States argues that it is obvious from the regulation and the Coast Guard's accompanying statements that such an intent has been expressed. The law of preemption by agency regulation, as the state amici point out, requires a clear statement from the federal agency of its intention to preempt the state regulation at issue. The Supreme Court has held that it is appropriate to expect an administrative regulation to declare any intention to pre-empt state law with some specificity. Cal. Coastal Comm'n v. Granite Rock Co., 480 U.S. 572, 583, 107 S.Ct. 1419, 94 L.Ed.2d 577 (1987) (citing Hillsborough County, 471 U.S. at 718, 105 S.Ct. 2371). Like other federal agencies, the Coast Guard must, [t]o the extent practicable and permitted by law, publish a federalism summary impact statement discussing any regulation that has federalism implications and that preempts State law, after consultation with state and local officials. Exec. Order No. 13,132, § 6(c), 64 Fed.Reg. 43,255, 43,258 (Aug. 4, 1999). We apply this specificity requirement. The relevant administrative record on this issue does not consist merely of the First Coast Guard District regulations, 33 C.F.R. § 165.100, and the attendant 1998 Federal Register statement, 63 Fed.Reg. 71,764. It also consists of two later Federal Register statements, issued in 2004 and 2006, which are more pertinently about a proposed tug escort rule for Buzzards Bay. The 1998 Federal Register statement [25] could not have addressed MOSPA because MOSPA was not enacted until 2004. But the Coast Guard was well aware of MOSPA when it issued its two later statements. In October 2004, the Coast Guard gave advance notice of proposed rulemaking that would require tug escorts for tank barges transiting Buzzards Bay. See 69 Fed.Reg. at 62,427. The advance notice solicited comments on, inter alia, seven questions. Id. at 62,429. As to federalism concerns, the 2004 notice took the position that several undefined provisions of MOSPA were preempted by the rulings in Locke and Ray, and specifically that section 17 of MOSPA (codified at Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 103, § 28), concerning pilotage requirements for certain vessels engaged in the coastwise trade, was preempted by operation of law. Id. at 62,429-30; see also 2004 Mass. Acts at 933. It is noteworthy that although the Coast Guard in its 2004 notice was clearly aware of the enactment of MOSPA, its federalism statement did not comment on the preemption of the tug escort provision, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6. See 69 Fed.Reg. at 62,429-30. If the only pertinent statements were those in 1998 and 2004, we would conclude that the Coast Guard had not clearly expressed an intent to preempt the state tug escort provisions. What throws the matter in doubt is the most recent federalism statement from the Coast Guard. The parties and the district court did not focus on the 2006 statement. In March 2006, the Coast Guard issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for Buzzards Bay, 71 Fed.Reg. 15,649. [26] That notice, like the 2004 notice, states that section 17 of MOSPA is void by operation of law. Id. at 15,653. The 2006 notice also suggests that parts of section 11 of MOSPA which is codified at Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, §§ 1-8, and so covers the relevant provisionare preempted. The 2006 notice specifically mentions the tug escort requirements for vessels in Buzzards Bay (codified at Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6), and suggests, for the first time, that these requirements are preempted. It does so not by expressing a direct intent to preempt, but by stating a conclusion that Locke and Ray operate to preempt Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6. 71 Fed.Reg. at 15,653. Further, the language suggesting that Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21M, § 6 is preempted is not as explicit as that used to signal the preemption of section 17 of MOSPA. See 71 Fed.Reg. at 15,653. Under these circumstances, the better course is to remand. The parties should have the opportunity to address, among any other issues, the questions of whether the Coast Guard sufficiently expressed a clear intent to preempt the state tug escort provisions in 2006, and whether, if so, the Coast Guard's position is clearly inconsistent with congressional intent. See Cal. Coastal Comm'n, 480 U.S. at 583, 107 S.Ct. 1419; Hillsborough County, 471 U.S. at 714-15, 105 S.Ct. 2371. As was true in Ray, [i]t may be that [federal] rules will be forthcoming that will pre-empt the State's present tug-escort rule. . . . 435 U.S. at 172, 98 S.Ct. 988. For now, we remand and encourage the parties to take advantage of the federalism consultations between the Coast Guard and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which have already started. See 71 Fed. Reg. at 15,654; 69 Fed.Reg. at 62,430.