Opinion ID: 794918
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jacksonville Landfill

Text: 47 The district court found that Hercules disposed of hazardous wastes at the Jacksonville Landfill and held Hercules liable for the cleanup costs associated with the landfill. In its investigation, the EPA found rusting drums and piles of white fibrous, absorbent-type materials at the Jacksonville Landfill. Tests confirmed the presence of dioxin, 2,4,5-T, and other chemicals associated with the Jacksonville site. In its ROD, the EPA called for the excavation of contaminated soils, the replacement and capping of the excavated areas with clean soil, and the cleaning and removal of large refuse items. The contaminated soil and drums were incinerated at the site. Although Hercules admits that it took some nonhazardous waste to the Jacksonville Landfill, it argues that the district court clearly erred in finding that Hercules disposed of hazardous wastes at the Jacksonville Landfill, and it contends that the EPA's response was arbitrary and capricious. 48 We conclude that the district court's finding is supported by substantial evidence. Indeed, the district court cited the testimony by four Hercules employees that they took chemical wastes to the Jacksonville Landfill. Billy Honey worked maintenance at the plant from the time Hercules bought it until it closed. J.A. at 26291. He testified that he hauled drums filled with chemical waste to the Jacksonville Landfill. J.A. at 26299-300. Doyce Shurley worked for Hercules in the early 1960s, and he recalled taking a barrel of stillbottoms to the landfill. Vincent Dodson worked for Hercules in the late 1960s, and he testified that chemical wastes were disposed of at the landfill. When asked what type of waste was taken to the Jacksonville landfill, Leroy Jordan replied, We took [waste] from each trash pick-up point. We took it from every rig and barrels. We cleaned out the incinerator and carried that stuff over there. Anything that they needed to get rid of, and that included benzen barrels, trash from the lunchroom, barrels of goop, acid, anything and everything. J.A. at 26352. 49 Hercules argues that this testimony should be discredited because it presented contradictory evidence to counter it. The short answer to this contention is to note once again that a district court's choice between two permissible views of the evidence is no basis for a conclusion that its factual finding is clearly erroneous. Tadlock, 291 F.3d at 546. 50 Hercules contends that the EPA's response to the Jacksonville landfill was inappropriate for the following reasons: (1) the cancer potency factor used by the EPA in its risk assessment constitutes a rule under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) that must be overturned because it was not subject to notice and comment, and (2) the EPA's exposure assumptions were arbitrary and capricious. We disagree. 51 The cancer potency factor was used to calculate the risk and to set dioxin cleanup standards for the soil and sediments at the Jacksonville site. To determine whether a statement by an agency is a legislative rule or policy, we apply the two-part test of McLouth Steel Prod. Corp. v. Thomas, 838 F.2d 1317, 1320 (D.C.Cir. 1988). A policy statement (1) does not have a binding effect; it does not impose any rights and obligation; and (2) a policy genuinely leaves the agency and its decisionmakers free to exercise discretion. Id. (internal quotations omitted). The district court concluded that the Health Assessment Document which set forth the cancer potency factor does not impose any rights [or] obligations. It is at most only a technical and advisory report. It did not obligate the agency or public in determining acceptable risks associated with dioxin. United States v. Vertac Chem. Corp., 33 F.Supp.2d 769, 779 (E.D.Ark.1998) ( Vertac IX ). 52 This finding is adequately supported by the record. As the district court noted, the EPA Regional Administrator considered the lower figure proposed by Hercules's contractor, ChemRisk, and rejected it. Indeed, in the ROD for the Jacksonville landfill, the EPA addressed why ChemRisk's calculations would not be used, Hercules Inc. submitted a report prepared by ChemRisk which provided calculations resulting in cleanup goals differing from EPA's for dioxin. The report utilized certain calculations and assumptions which were contrary to EPA guidance and resulted in cleanup goals much less restrictive than those calculated by the EPA. J.A. at 16407. The document goes on to discuss the discrepancies between the EPA's and ChemRisk's methods of calculating site related risks and to explain that the EPA rejected ChemRisks proposal because ChemRisk's proposed cleanup goals, using EPA's risk assessment approach, would not result in excess cancer risks (after remediation) within the acceptable risk range. J.A. at 16408. The EPA considered Hercules's comments on the EPA's application of the cancer potency factor with regard to the cleanup levels at the site and responded to the comments in the final RODs. 53 Hercules argues that the exposure assessments used by the EPA were arbitrary and capricious and did not justify the remedial order. Having considered the ROD and related evidence, we conclude that this argument is without merit.