Opinion ID: 614603
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Proof of Connection to an Underground Source of Drinking Water

Text: King contends that the government failed to allege and prove violations of § 300h-2(b)(2). King concedes that the government alleged and proved that he willfully injected water into wells despite not having a permit from the State of Idaho under its Underground Injection Control (UIC) program. But King contends that in order to establish a violation of an applicable underground injection program under § 300h-2(b), the government must also allege and prove that his injection of water implicated or pertain[ed] to an underground source of drinking water (USDW). King misunderstands the allocation of the burden of proof under the SDWA. King had the burden to show, during Idaho's permitting process, that his proposed injection would not adversely affect an USDW. To prove a violation of § 300h-2(b)(2), the government does not need to show that an injection will have such an effect on an USDW. The government need only show the absence of a permit under Idaho's UIC program. The SDWA establishes a federally mandated, state-administered regulatory scheme for the protection of drinking water. It provides that an applicant for a permit to inject fluids has the burden of showing that the injection will not endanger underground sources of drinking water: [T]he applicant for the permit to inject must satisfy the State that the underground injection will not endanger drinking water sources. 42 U.S.C. § 300h(b)(1)(B)(i). Underground injection endangers drinking water sources if such injection may result in the presence in underground water which supplies or reasonably can be expected to supply any public water system of any contaminant. . . . Id. at § 300h(d)(2). The SDWA's implementing regulations specify that [t]he applicant for a permit shall have the burden of showing that the applicant's injection activity will not allow[] the movement of fluid containing any contaminant into underground sources of drinking water. 40 C.F.R. § 144.12(a). Any underground injection, except . . . as authorized by permit issued under the UIC program, is prohibited. Id. at § 144.11. [N]o injection shall be authorized by permit . . . if it results in the movement of fluid containing any contaminant into [an USDW] if the presence of that contaminant may cause a violation of any primary drinking water violation. . . . Id. at § 144.1(g) The SDWA and its implementing regulations are not concerned with whether an injected fluid is itself contaminated. Rather, they are concerned with the result of injection activity. A permit applicant must show that the proposed activity will not allow the movement of fluid containing [a] contaminant. Id. Injections of clean water into the ground can cause the movement of contaminants into an aquifer. For example, contaminants may dissolve into clean water as the injected water passes through the soil on its way to an aquifer. Or, if water is injected under pressure it may cause fractures in subsurface structures, thereby releasing contaminants into the aquifer. See Subsurface Emplacement of Fluids, 39 Fed.Reg. 12922, 12922-23 (April 2, 1974). Therefore, a permit applicant must show, even as to a proposed injection of clean water, that the injection will not allow the movement of fluid containing [a] contaminant. Id. Idaho administers and is the primary enforcer of the SDWA under an UIC program approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). See 40 C.F.R. § 147.650. Under Idaho's UIC program, injections of fluids into deep wells require a permit. Idaho defines a drinking water source as an aquifer which contains water having less than the 10,000 mg/1 total dissolved solids, and has not otherwise been exempted by the State's director of the department of water resources. Idaho Code § 42-3902(3); Idaho Admin. Code § 37.03.03, Rule 10.17 (same); see 40 C.F.R. § 144.3 (including this definition). A waste disposal and injection well is an injection well which is more than eighteen (18) feet in vertical depth below land surface. Idaho Code § 42-3902(19). No existing waste disposal and injection well can be used unless a permit therefor has been issued by the state director of the department of water resources. Id. § 42-3903. The director may issue a permit only if non-contamination conditions for the permit have been met by the applicant, including whether drinking water sources will be unreasonably affected. Idaho Admin. Code, § 37.03.03, Rule 45.02; see also Id. at Rule 50. We therefore conclude that the government was not required to prove, as an element of the crime of violating § 300h-2(b)(2), that King's injection of water would have an adverse impact on an USDW. The government was required to prove only that King willfull[y] failed to comply with a requirement of an applicable underground injection program. Accordingly, the government was required to prove only that King willfully injected water into a well more than eighteen feet deep without a permit, knowing that a permit was required under Idaho law.