Court Opinion

ID: 9486768
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:59:32.651603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:55.488351
License: Public Domain

MANION, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the court’s holding that the plaintiffs claims invoking the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act should fail. For whatever reason the Village of Oconomowoc Lake wishes the warehouse would disappear (be it political, environmental, or simple resentment because it doesn’t get a bite at the tax base), the regulations under the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts do not facilitate the attack. In addition, I would not speculate how to characterize a citizen’s suit under § 7604(a)(1). Before federal courts begin deciding under the Clean Air Act whether or not such things as shopping malls are permissible because of their side effects, we should ensure that Congress has specifically authorized the EPA to regulate at that level. Nor would I suggest that the EPA can figuratively “wade in” to ground water as part of the waters of the United States without first having specific direction from Congress to do so. This would take more than a simple amendment of regulations by the administrators at the EPA. Regulations are promulgated at the direction of Congress, and at this juncture, Congress has not permitted collateral attacks against parking lots, septic tanks, and sprinkler systems — the natural consequence if we were to approve the interpretation espoused by the plaintiffs.