Opinion ID: 423927
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Merits of the EPA's Wetlands Determination.

Text: 87 The essence of the landowners' challenge to the EPA's final wetlands determination concerned the legal issues described above, in particular the use of the new methodology. To a limited extent, the landowners have also disputed some of the agency's factual findings. Our review of the administrative record in this case does not indicate that the EPA's findings were arbitrary or capricious. 88 While the EPA found that approximately eighty percent of the Lake Long Tract was a wetland, the district court found that over ninety percent of the tract was a wetland. The court and the agency reached different conclusions because they held differing beliefs about whether Tensas and Dundee soils were wetlands soils. The EPA's conclusion that areas made up of these two soils should be excluded from the wetlands area was based on the report of the agency's soil expert, Dr. William H. Patrick, Jr. Dr. Patrick examined the site's soils for wetness, texture, color and extent of mottling and concluded that the Dundee and Tensas soils were less likely to remain saturated than the other wetlands soils. See Admin.Record, Tab 3.19. The district court found that all of these soils were wetlands soils because they drain poorly. 89 While there may have been room for a difference in opinion about the nature of these soils, such a difference does not mean that the agency's decision was arbitrary or capricious. The agency and its expert explained their reasons for concluding that the Dundee and Tensas soils were not wetlands, and their decision is not irrational. Since the courts may not require any more than that, Overton Park, supra, the district court erred in substituting its judgment about the character of the soils for the agency's. 90 The landowners emphasize that the EPA's determination that approximately eighty percent of the tract was a wetland does not correspond to the findings of any of its experts. 34 In discussing percentages, it is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that we are discussing the characteristics of land, not the amount of octane required in gasoline or the amount of lead permitted in drainage pipes. We must not forget that these percentages are a mere shorthand for the map of wetlands that our pens and tongues cannot adequately describe. 91 The eighty-percent figure is based on Dr. Patrick's report about the area's soils. He opined that sixty percent of the tract was a wetland because he would have excluded from his calculations the Tensas-Sharkey soils, which he viewed as mixed and non-mixed wetlands soils, as well as the Dundee and Tensas soils. Admin.Record, Tab 3.19. The EPA decided not to exclude the Tensas-Sharkey soils because it was too difficult to separate these soils from the wetlands soils. Final Wetlands Determination at 6-7, 2 Record at 377-78; Admin.Record, Tab 3.38 (EPA Regional Administrator's Report). Since the Tensas-Sharkey soils accounted for approximately twenty percent of the tract, their inclusion explains the difference between the EPA's determination and its expert's. 92 Finally, the landowners dispute the EPA's findings with respect to which types of vegetation were wetlands indicators and the extent of the inundation of the tract. 35 The vegetation dispute concerns whether the facultative hydrophytes should be considered wetlands indicators, not which types of vegetation were actually on the tract. We have already determined that the EPA's view of the matter was not irrational. While there were conflicting reports about the extent of flooding on the tract, both in the administrative record and at trial, this conflict was properly resolved by the agency. 36 93 In summary, we hold that the EPA's final wetlands determination was not arbitrary or capricious. Therefore, the district court's determination must be set aside to the extent that it is in conflict with the agency's, and the agency's determination should be reinstated. 94