Opinion ID: 4020089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: recordkeeping requirement for ciswi units

Text: Section 7429 regulates combustion units that burn solid waste; units that do not burn solid waste will generally be regulated under section 7412. RCRA defines the term “solid waste” to mean (in part) “discarded material . . . resulting from industrial [or] commercial . . . operations.” 42 U.S.C. § 6903(27); see id. § 7429(g)(6) (directing that “solid waste” carry “the meanings established by the Administrator pursuant to” RCRA). On the same day the EPA issued a rule setting emission standards for CISWI, it issued a separate rule fleshing out the meaning of solid waste in the context of combustion units. See NHSM Rule, 76 Fed. Reg. at 15,456. The NHSM Rule generally provides that “non-hazardous secondary materials that are combusted are solid wastes,”14 subject to several exceptions and exemptions. 40 C.F.R. § 241.3(a). Among the exceptions, non-hazardous secondary materials that meet certain “legitimacy” criteria do not qualify as solid waste. See id. § 241.3(b), (d). Source owners and operators may also seek a finding from the EPA that particular materials do not constitute solid waste when combusted by a third party. Id. § 241.3(c). And the rule exempts altogether a variety of materials from the definition of solid waste, including “traditional fuels.” Id. § 241.2. The NHSM Rule is self-implementing: each source owner or operator must determine whether combusted materials meet the definition of solid waste. See 2011 CISWI Rule, 76 Fed. Reg. at 15,740. To ensure that owners and 14 The NHSM Rule defines non-hazardous secondary material to “mean[] a secondary material that, when discarded, would not be identified as a hazardous waste.” 40 C.F.R. § 241.2. 54 operators “review and apply” the NHSM Rule and its exceptions, the EPA issued strict recordkeeping requirements. Id. Owners and operators who determine the secondary materials they combust are not solid waste must “keep a record” justifying that decision. 40 C.F.R. § 60.2175(v). Failing to file records carries consequences. For units combusting discarded material other than traditional fuels, the failure to “keep and produce records” results in the determination that “the operating unit is a CISWI unit.” Id. §§ 60.2265, 60.2875 (containing an identical provision). Industry Petitioners challenge this last provision of the CISWI Rule.15 They argue that the EPA cannot automatically treat units that fail to keep certain paperwork as CISWI units. Section 7429 permits regulation of “solid waste incineration units”—not units whose owners fail to file paperwork. As a result, the Industry Petitioners ask this court to invalidate the regulatory provision as exceeding the EPA’s statutory authority.16 We decline the invitation. At Chevron’s first step, we find that “Congress did not speak directly, let alone clearly, to 15 In their reply brief, the Industry Petitioners clarify that they do not challenge the EPA’s authority to require sources to keep records. 16 The Industry Petitioners also argue the EPA arbitrarily failed to provide sufficient notice of the recordkeeping presumption. We disagree. The Industry Petitioners had sufficient notice of the CISWI Rule, which was promulgated after notice and comment and “give[s] fair warning of the conduct it prohibits.” Gen. Elec. Co. v. EPA, 53 F.3d 1324, 1328 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (quoting Gates & Fox Co. v. OSHRC, 790 F.2d 154, 156 (D.C. Cir. 1986)). 55 this issue.” Am. Chem. Council v. EPA, 337 F.3d 1060, 1064 (D.C. Cir. 2003). Section 7429 regulates “solid waste incineration units,” a phrase that Congress defined “plainly and broadly to include ‘a distinct operating unit of any facility which combusts any solid waste material from commercial or industrial establishments or the general public.’” NRDC I, 489 F.3d at 1257 (emphasis omitted) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 7429(g)(1)). In NRDC I, we vacated an earlier iteration of the CISWI Rule that narrowed the scope of that definition beyond what its language would bear. See id. at 1257-58. When the Congress commanded the EPA to regulate units that burn “any” solid waste, the Congress meant what it said. See id. In this case, the EPA included within the revised CISWI Rule a presumption designed to enforce the Congress’s command. Section 7429 nowhere addresses whether the EPA may establish presumptions to ensure its regulations reach all sources burning solid waste. At the same time, the Congress plainly intended the EPA to regulate sources burning “any” solid waste, a goal presumably advanced by the recordkeeping presumption. See id. Against that backdrop, we cannot conclude that the presumption offends the text or purpose of section 7429. Moving to Chevron’s second step, we conclude the recordkeeping presumption is reasonable. In American Chemistry Council, we upheld a regulation issued under RCRA defining hazardous waste to include any mixture or derivative of hazardous substances. See 337 F.3d at 1064-65. “[B]ecause many mixtures of and derivatives from hazardous wastes are themselves hazardous, it [was] reasonable for the EPA to assume that all such mixtures and derivatives are hazardous until shown otherwise.” Id. at 1065. In that 56 context, it made good sense for the EPA to “[p]lac[e] the burden upon the regulated entity” to show that a given substance lacked “hazardous characteristic[s].” Id. Similar reasoning applies here. The EPA crafted the presumption to reach sources likely to be burning solid waste, namely, those burning discarded materials other than traditional fuels. See 42 U.S.C. § 6903(27) (defining “solid waste” to include, among other things, “discarded material”); 40 C.F.R. § 241.2 (exempting traditional fuels, defined as “materials that are produced as fuels . . . that have not been discarded,” from the definition of solid waste). Such sources are subject to strict recordkeeping requirements. See 40 C.F.R. § 60.2175(v). Within those confines, placing the burden on unit operators who have the mandatory obligation and the information to establish their non-regulable status is reasonable. Cf. Am. Chem. Council, 337 F.3d at 1065. There is, however, a difference between the presumption in this case and the one we upheld in American Chemistry Council. The CISWI recordkeeping presumption appears to turn on the failure to file paperwork, rather than the presence of a regulated substance. However broadly the Congress defined “solid waste incineration unit” in section 7429, the Congress did not allow for the regulation of non-waste burning sources—even when those sources fail to file paperwork. Indeed, had the EPA attempted to regulate sources based purely on a failure to file paperwork, we may well have reached a different conclusion. But the CISWI presumption does not stretch so far. As explained, the presumption depends on factors beyond the mere failure to keep records. Sources subject to the presumption burn materials likely to qualify as solid waste, 57 and must satisfy demanding recordkeeping requirements. The EPA acted reasonably when it presumed such sources were burning solid waste. Despite the provision’s narrow reach, the Industry Petitioners fear it will sweep up sources not burning solid waste. To the extent that possibility exists, sources wrongfully regulated as CISWI have multiple forms of recourse. Most obviously, sources can prepare and file the records they were already required to make under 40 C.F.R. § 60.2175(v). They can also avail themselves of procedures designed to identify non-waste materials in 40 C.F.R. § 241.3. The existence of these safety valves calms concerns that the presumption will regulate non-waste burning sources. We therefore reject the Industry Petitioners’ challenges to the recordkeeping presumption.17