Opinion ID: 3054096
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Stare Decisis and Supervening Authority

Text: [1] Typically, we are bound by earlier published decisions of our court. However, circuit precedent may be effectively overruled by subsequent Supreme Court decisions that are closely on point, even if the precedent is not expressly overruled. Galbraith v. County of Santa Clara, 307 F.3d 1119, 1123 (9th Cir. 2002). In such circumstances, a panel may rule in contradiction to circuit precedent even without en banc review. We have held that “the issues decided by the higher court need not be identical in order to be controlling.” Miller v. Gammie, 335 F.3d 889, 900 (9th Cir. 2003) (en banc). As long as “the reasoning or theory of [the] prior circuit authority is clearly irreconcilable with the reasoning or theory of inter- 3 ONDA is again used in the collective sense to represent all PlaintiffsAppellants. OREGON NATURAL DESERT v. USFS 16305 vening higher authority,” the panel may consider the prior circuit opinion as “having been effectively overruled.” Id. at 893. ONDA argues that the outcome and reasoning of S.D. Warren are clearly irreconcilable with our reasoning in Dombeck.
The S. D. Warren Company (Company), which operates several hydroelectric power dams along the Presumpscot River in Maine, sought renewal of federal licenses for five of its dams. S.D. Warren, 547 U.S. at 374. Before receiving the requested license renewals, the Company was compelled to obtain water quality certifications from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which it did under protest. Id. at 374-75. The Maine agency required, as a condition of certification, that the Company maintain a minimum stream flow, and the federal licenses reflected those conditions. Id. at 375. The Company appealed the conditions placed on the licenses to the Maine state courts, contending that because its dams did not create or permit “discharges,” it was not required to obtain state certification under § 401. Id. The superior court ruled against the Company, and the Company appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, which affirmed. 868 A.2d 210 (Me. 2005). The United States Supreme Court then granted certiorari. 546 U.S. 933 (2005). The question presented in the petition for writ of certiorari was: “Does the mere flow of water through an existing dam constitute a ‘discharge’ under Section 401, 33 U.S.C. § 1341, of the Clean Water Act, despite this Court’s holding last year in [South Florida Water Management District v.] Miccosukee [Tribe of Indians, 541 U.S. 95 (2004),] that a discharge requires the addition of water from a distinct body of water?” Petition for Writ of Certiorari, S.D. Warren, 547 U.S. 370 (No. 04-1527). [2] Before the Supreme Court, the Company argued that “because the release of water from the dams adds nothing to 16306 OREGON NATURAL DESERT v. USFS the river that was not there above the dams,” there was no “discharge” within the meaning of § 401. Id. at 379. In other words, because the Company was not adding anything to the water as it moved through its turbines, it could not be said to be discharging into the Presumpscot River. The Supreme Court rejected the notion that “an addition is fundamental to any discharge,” and affirmed the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine on the ground that a “discharge” means a “flowing or issuing out,” and does not require any addition to the water as it leaves the dam. Id. at 377. In sum, the United States Supreme Court held that the term “discharge” is not limited to the “discharge of a pollutant,” but may also include the “flowing or issuing out” of non-pollutants, or even water. [3] The parties to this action agree that S.D. Warren is not precisely on point. In S.D. Warren, no one questioned whether a “point source” existed for the purpose of determining whether a “discharge” had occurred. The movement of water at issue in S.D. Warren was achieved by each dam creating a pond and running the water through turbines back into the waterbed. These turbines are undeniably point sources under the CWA definition. See CWA § 502(14). Indeed, the Company contended on appeal, and the State of Maine did not disagree, that it was “undisputed that 401 does not cover nonpoint source . . . pollution.” Transcript of Oral Argument at 5, S.D. Warren, 547 U.S. 370 (No. 04-1527). The issue in S.D. Warren was narrowly tailored to determine whether a discharge from a point source could occur absent addition of any pollutant to the water emitted from the dam turbines.4 4 ONDA argues that we should not read S.D. Warren to pertain only to point sources because neither the Supreme Court nor this court has unequivocally held that a dam is a point source. ONDA also notes that § 304(f) of the CWA includes “changes caused by the construction of dams” under the classification of “nonpoint sources of pollution.” 33 U.S.C. § 1314(f). Other circuits have linked dams to nonpoint sources of pollution. The Sixth Circuit has recognized that the “EPA has consistently treated dams OREGON NATURAL DESERT v. USFS 16307 [4] ONDA urges us to read S.D. Warren as expanding the meaning of “discharge” in § 401 to include discharge from nonpoint sources. However, the holding in S.D. Warren is limited to the conclusion that a discharge need not involve pollutants, hence the expulsion of water from a dam turbine is a discharge. Not only does S.D. Warren fail to address the issue of nonpoint source pollution, it confirms our conclusion in Dombeck that “ ‘[d]ischarge’ is the broader term because it includes all releases from point sources, whether polluting or nonpolluting.” 172 F.3d at 1098.
[5] The reasoning in S.D. Warren is likewise easily reconcilable with our reasoning in Dombeck. ONDA argues that because the Supreme Court was able to look beyond the definitions in the statute to include “non-pollutants” within the meaning of “discharge,” we should also include nonpoint sources within the meaning of “discharge” in § 401. However, while the Supreme Court’s interpretation is supported by the legislative history of the CWA, ONDA’s recommended construction of the CWA is not. as nonpoint sources of pollution.” United States ex rel. TVA v. Tenn. Water Quality Control Bd., 717 F.2d 992, 999 (6th Cir. 1983). The D.C. Circuit has also recognized “congressional intent [in § 304(f)] that some water quality changes caused by dams be regulated as nonpoint pollution.” Nat’l Wildlife Fed’n v. Gorsuch, 693 F.2d 156, 177 (D.C. Cir. 1982). ONDA observes that in cases where a dam has been held to be a point source, our court has simply accepted the parties’ stipulation to that effect. Comm. to Save Mokelumne River v. East Bay Mun. Util. Dist., 13 F.3d 305, 308 (9th Cir. 1993). Even if ONDA’s observation is generally accurate, its argument is not dispositive concerning the facts in S.D. Warren because, while a dam might not always be considered a point source, the dam turbines that were the focus of the decision in S.D. Warren clearly were a point source. 547 U.S. at 373. See also Gorsuch, 693 F.2d at 165 n.22 (“The pipes or spillways through which water flows from the reservoir through the dam into the downstream river clearly falls within [the definition of point source].”). 16308 OREGON NATURAL DESERT v. USFS [6] The Supreme Court noted in S.D. Warren that the purpose of the CWA went beyond controlling the “addition of pollutants” to also deal with “pollution” generally, including “ ‘the man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.’ ” 547 U.S. at 385 (quoting CWA § 502(19)); see also CWA § 101(b). The Court referred to findings by amici that dams cause chemical modifications to the water that disrupt aquatic life forms, as well as findings by the Maine courts that the Company’s dams blocked passage of eels and sea-run fish, and prevented recreational access to and use of the river. 547 U.S. at 385-86. The Court ruled that these changes in the river went to the core of the CWA’s purpose, and were of the type intended by the CWA to be subject to State certification. Id. at 386. Therefore, “[r]eading § 401 to give ‘discharge’ its common and ordinary meaning preserves the state authority apparently intended” under the CWA. Id. [7] In contrast, nonpoint sources of pollution have not generally been targeted by the CWA; instead they are generally excluded from CWA regulations, except to the extent that states are encouraged to promote their own methods of tracking and targeting nonpoint source pollution. It is generally understood among students of the CWA that “[w]hile Congress could have defined a ‘discharge’ to include generalized runoff as well as the more obvious sources of water pollution, . . . it chose to limit the permit program’s application to the latter [point source] category.” 55 ALA L. REV. at 562. See also Marc R. Poirier, Non-point Source Pollution, in ENV’L L. PRACTICE GUIDE § 18.13 (2008). [8] The reason for the CWA’s focus on point sources rather than nonpoint sources is simply that “[d]ifferences in climate and geography make nationwide uniformity in controlling non-point source pollution virtually impossible. Also, the control of non-point source pollution often depends on land use controls, which are traditionally state or local in nature.” Poirier, Non-point Source Pollution, § 18.13. Instead, § 208 and OREGON NATURAL DESERT v. USFS 16309 then § 319 were designated by Congress as methods to keep states accountable for identifying and tracking nonpoint sources of pollution, as well as identifying “the best management practices and measures” to reduce such pollution. CWA § 319(b)(2)(A). In summary, while many scholars recognize the harmful effects of nonpoint source pollution, they also recognize that the CWA does not generally exercise jurisdiction over those nonpoint sources. [U]nlike the permitting and enforcement provisions for point sources, [under the CWA] EPA lacks direct implementation or regulatory authority in the face of nonexistent or inadequate state implementation. At most, under the nonpoint source control provisions, EPA is authorized to withhold grant funding for delinquent states. This policy judgment appears consistent with Congress’s reluctance, as expressed in sections 101(b) and (g) of the Act, to allow extensive federal intrusion into areas of regulation that might implicate land and water uses in individual states. Robert W. Adler, The Two Lost Books in the Water Quality Trilogy: The Elusive Objectives of Physical and Biological Integrity, 33 ENVTL. L. 29, 56 (2003). [9] Neither the ruling nor the reasoning in S.D. Warren is inconsistent with this court’s treatment of nonpoint sources in § 401 of the Act, as explained in Dombeck. Accordingly, the principles of stare decisis apply, and this court need not revisit the issue decided in Dombeck. As every first-year law student knows, the doctrine of stare decisis is often the determining factor in deciding cases brought before any court. The doctrine of stare decisis is “the means by which we ensure that the law will not merely change erratically, but will develop in a principled and intelligible fashion.” Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 265 (1986). The doctrine helps to 16310 OREGON NATURAL DESERT v. USFS ensure that “bedrock principles are founded in the law rather than in the proclivities of individuals.” Id. Although stare decisis does not control the outcome of every case, the Supreme Court has noted that “detours from the straight path of stare decisis in our past have occurred for articulable reasons, and only when the Court has felt obliged ‘to bring its opinions into agreement with experience and with facts newly ascertained.’ ” Id. at 266 (quoting Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., 285 U.S. 393, 412 (1932) (Brandeis, J. dissenting)); see also Arizona v. Rumsey, 467 U.S. 203, 212 (1984) (“any departure from the doctrine of stare decisis demands special justification”). When, as in this case, there are neither new factual circumstances nor a new legal landscape, stare decisis is an appropriate basis for our decision. B. Collateral Estoppel and Virtual Representation [10] Because we conclude that the principles of stare decisis control all of the plaintiffs in this case, we need not reach the issues of collateral estoppel and virtual representation. Whether or not the individual Plaintiffs-Appellants in this case were participants in the earlier trial, they are bound by Dombeck as a matter of law. Accordingly, the district court’s grant of the Forest Service’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as to all Plaintiffs-Appellants is AFFIRMED. AFFIRMED.