Opinion ID: 2973226
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reliance on the OEPA waiver

Text: Plaintiffs argue that under Ohio law, the OEPA cannot issue a Section 401 waiver and that the Corps Defendants were aware of that fact. The district court dismissed this portion of Plaintiffs’ complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. “This court reviews de novo a district court's dismissal of a complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Care Heating & Cooling, Inc. v. American Standard, Inc., 427 F.3d 1008, 1012 (6th Cir.2005) (citing P.R. Diamonds, Inc. v. Chandler, 364 F.3d 671, 680 (6th Cir.2004)). We agree with the district court that Corps Defendants could properly rely on OEPA’s waiver in this case. If Corps Defendants cannot rely on the state agency to properly follow its own laws and regulations with respect to issuing waivers, the Section 401 waiver procedure would, in effect, require Corps Defendants to engage in an analysis of each states’ rules and regulations on the issuing of Section 401 waivers, come to an independent assessment as to whether the state agency No. 04-3720 City of Olmsted Falls, et al. v. United States EPA, et al. Page 5 followed those rules on issuing Section 401 waivers, and, if Corps Defendants determined that they did not follow them, fail to grant a permit despite an explicit waiver by the state. Such a procedure, in addition to being cumbersome and duplicative of effort, would undermine the role that state environmental agencies play in the Section 401 process. It would also contravene the express language of the federal statute section which provides not only for express waivers by a state, but also for waivers by silence. See 33 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1).