Court Opinion

ID: 9430382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:37.692285+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:24.296030
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
dissenting.
The purposes of the “Spill Fund” Act passed by the New Jersey Legislature in 1977,1 and the “Superfund” legislation enacted by the Congress of the United States in 19802 overlap partially but not entirely. In the area of overlap, both statutes create funds to defray the costs of responding to environmental damage caused by the disposal of certain hazardous substances. Even in this area, however, the state and federal funds are not identical, for § 114(c) of the federal statute provides that no person may be required to contribute to any state fund if “the purpose” of the fund is to pay “compensation for claims for any costs of response or damages or claims which may be compensated under” the federal fund.3 The question presented by this case is whether the words “the purpose” should be construed to mean “one of the purposes.”
*378I — I
Both parties agree that the New Jersey Spill Fund was created to serve multiple purposes, and that at least some of these purposes are not expressly described in § 114(c).4 Moreover, even if the bulk of the moneys in the Spill Fund has to date been expended in furtherance of purposes served by the federal Superfund, there is no reason to believe that the separate purposes are pretextual or illegitimate, or that in the future New Jersey will not use its Spill Fund to meet an ecological threat, such as an oil spill, for which Superfund *379makes no provision. See Tr. in Nos. SC 319A-81 and SC 303A-81, p. 21 (N. J. Tax Court).
These concededly legitimate state purposes are, in my view, sufficient to validate the tax supporting New Jersey’s Spill Fund. First, § 114(c) literally pre-empts only taxes to support state funds for which “the purpose” is to compensate for claims compensable under Superfund. In accordance with this language, contributions to state funds would be pre-empted only if their sole purpose — or perhaps their only nontrivial purpose — was to compensate for claims covered by Superfund. Unless Congress intended to forbid further contributions to state funds merely because they have not expended “sufficient” moneys on legitimate state objectives (whatever that threshold amount should be), New Jersey’s Spill Fund unquestionably escapes the pre-emptive sweep of § 114(c).
If this purely literal reading of § 114(c) resulted in manifest injustice, or were plainly at war with the probable intent of Congress, I would reject it. But such a reading is consistent with the sparse legislative history that has been called to our attention.5 In the debate on the Senate floor, New Jersey Senator Bradley pointed out that his State had enacted a “Spill Compensation Fund” supported by “a tax applied to transfers of petroleum and a tax on nonpetroleum hazardous substances.” 126 Cong. Rec. 30949 (1980), reprinted in Sen*380ate Committee on Environment and Public Works, A Legislative History of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (Superfund), 97th Cong., 2d Sess., 731 (Comm. Print 1983) (hereinafter 1 Leg. Hist.). Acknowledging industry’s fear that it might be forced to bear a “double tax,” ibid., the Senator propounded a series of questions to Senator Randolph of West Virginia, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, to clarify the scope of § 114(c). This colloquy, as I read it, is generally in keeping with pre-emption of nothing more than state taxation to support funds for which “the purpose” is to compensate for claims covered by Superfund:
“Mr. BRADLEY.

“Am I correct in understanding that it is the purpose of this legislation [§ 114(c)] to prohibit States from requiring any person to contribute to a fund for the purpose of reimbursing claims already provided for in this legislation?
“Mr. RANDOLPH. Yes, that is the clear intent. The purpose is to prohibit States from creating duplicate funds to pay damage compensable under this bill.
“Mr. BRADLEY. However, there is no such preemption of a State’s ability to collect such taxes or fees for other costs associated with releases that are not compen-sable damages as defined in this legislation.
“Mr. RANDOLPH. The Senator is correct.

“Nothing in the language or intent of this bill would prohibit a State from using its fund for the purposes you have inquired about. The purpose of this legislation is simply to preempt double taxation of the substances enumerated in the bill for the purposes of compensation of the covered damage. . . .
*381“Any damage not reimbursed by this bill fund may similarly be the proper subject of a State fund if a State so chooses to construct its fund. . . .

.. What this bill does is prohibit a State from requiring any person to contribute to any fund if the purpose of that fund is to compensate for a claim paid for under the provisions of this bill. Thus the State cannot receive a fee or a tax on a substance if that fee or tax is to go into a fund and the fund is for the purpose of paying [compen-sable] claims.
“Putting it simply, this is a prohibition against double taxation for the same purposes. It [does] not. . . prohibit a State from imposing fees or taxes for other purposes ....
“In summary, Mr. President, this preemption provision is narrow in scope and limited to the particular purpose of preventing double taxation.” 126 Cong. Rec., at 30949 (emphasis added), reprinted in 1 Leg. Hist. 731-733.6
*382The legislation passed by the Senate was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Florio of New Jersey, whose brief remarks on the floor are likewise consistent with construing § 114(c) to pre-empt taxation to support state imitations of Superfund:
“Regarding the preemption language contained in these amendments, I would point out that some States, including my own State of New Jersey, have successful spill funds and that while States may not create duplicate funds to pay damages compensable under this bill, there is no preemption of the State’s ability to collect taxes on fees for other costs associated with releases that are not compensable damages as defined in this legislation.
. . Putting it simply, this is a prohibition against double taxation for the same purposes” 126 Cong. Rec. 31965 (1980) (emphasis added), reprinted in part in 1 Leg. Hist. 780.
As I see it, if Congress had intended to forbid any further contributions to the New Jersey Spill Fund — the existence of which it was made acutely aware — it surely could have expressed that intent in less ambiguous language than is found in § 114(c). Indeed, if that had been its purpose, I would expect it to be revealed either in a committee report or in some unequivocal comment during the debates on the legislation. I have found no such legislative history. In my opinion, we should not presume pre-emption unless Congress clearly identifies its intent to curtail the lawmaking power of a sovereign State, either by careful draftsmanship of its pre-emptive command or by necessary implication based on the scope of its entire regulatory program.7 The language of § 114(c) is *383simply too opaque to support the broad prohibition that appellants ask us to find in it.
I — I l — l
For the foregoing reasons, the New Jersey Spill Fund tax is not a “contribut[ion]” to a fund “the purpose of which is to pay compensation for claims . . . which may be compensated under” Superfund. Because there exist several legitimate purposes for which New Jersey may expend funds, “the purpose” of the State Spill Fund does not duplicate the purpose of Superfund, and the tax levied to support it is to that extent unquestionably valid under § 114(c). Moreover, while the Spill Fund is by statute available (and has been used) for the purpose described in § 114(c), the State Fund’s compensation for claims covered by its federal counterpart does not entitle appellants to a pro tanto refund of taxes on a theory that the Spill Fund is “partially pre-empted.” The unqualified language of § 114(c) either forbids all contributions to the Fund or it forbids none; it affords no basis for objecting to a tax for the concededly legitimate state purposes identified earlier, see n. 4, supra.
But since the Court concludes that the Spill Act is “preempted in part,” ante, at 358; accord, ante, at 376, it must confront the difficult question of relief. In keeping with its “partial pre-emption” analysis, the Court should advise the New Jersey courts how they should calculate the partial refund of taxes to which appellants are presumably entitled on remand. For example, must appellants be refunded the percentage of Spill Act taxes expended on Superfund-compensable claims in the tax years in question, or may the State reduce their refund by imputing an average annual cost for the cleanup of oil spills, which are one of the contingencies against which the Spill Fund was intended to accumulate reserves but which has not yet occurred?
*384Rather than facing up to the difficult but essential remedial choices to which its analysis inescapably gives rise, the Court takes the entirely unresponsive course of resolving a lawsuit that has not yet been filed. In the litigation it apparently contemplates, a contributor to the Spill Fund has challenged a particular expenditure of the Fund as being in conflict with § 114(c). In this situation, I might agree that the purpose of § 114(c)’s pre-emption of double taxation prevents New Jersey from spending these moneys on activities compensable under Superfund. Taxing and spending are obviously linked in § 114(c): taxes may not be levied to support funds indemnifying claims compensable under Superfund. Given this linkage, the hypothetical plaintiff might argue that § 114(c)’s prohibition of “double taxation” pre-empts state expenditures of Spill Fund moneys for Superfund-compensable claims generally, whether collected in a separately identifiable fund or not, on the theory that such expenditures would constitute the functional equivalent of a distinct “fund” whose purpose is to pay claims compensable under Superfund.8
*385But whatever the merits of the hypothesized challenge to particular state expenditures, the case or controversy which would raise it is not before this Court. Appellants challenge the Spill Fund tax in its entirety; they make no claim for a partial refund. App. to Brief on Behalf of Plaintiffs-Appellants in No. A-3913-81T1 (N. J. Super. Ct.), pp. 2a-7a (N. J. Tax Court Complaint ¶¶ 3—4); id., at 16a-23a (N. J. Chancery Division Complaint ¶¶ 11—36); Tr. in Nos. SC 319A-81 & SC 303A-81, p. 34 (N. J. Tax Court). This litigation does not concern any particular expenditure of Spill Fund assets for any purpose, let alone the purpose described in § 114(c).9 As a consequence, it is plainly inappropriate to let stand the Spill Fund tax challenged by appellants and instead order New Jersey to restrict Fund expenditures not properly before us.
Of course, if the hypothesized challenge were successful, the Court would be entirely correct that the next question would be whether New Jersey would have set the same tax rate despite circumscription of the purposes for which the Fund might be expended, and that this state-law question should be left for the New Jersey courts.10 The only ques*386tion before us today, however, is whether “the purpose” of the New Jersey tax is to fund claims which may be compensated under Superfund. For me, the universal agreement that the tax moneys poured into New Jersey’s Spill Fund may be spent in furtherance of entirely valid purposes is sufficient to sustain the state tax.-
The judgment of the Supreme Court of New Jersey should be affirmed.

 New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Fund), N. J. Stat. Ann. §§58:10-23.11 to 58:10-23.11z (West 1982 and Supp. 1985).

 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (Superfund or CERCLA), 94 Stat. 2767, 42 U. S. C. § 9601 et seq.

 Section 114(c) of Superfund states in full:
“Except as provided in this Act, no person may be required to contribute to any fund, the purpose of which is to pay compensation for claims for any costs of response or damages or claims which may be compensated under this title. Nothing in this section shall preclude any State from using general revenues for such a fund, or from imposing a tax or fee upon any person or upon any substance in order to finance the purchase or preposi-tioning of hazardous substance response equipment or other preparations for the response to a release of hazardous substances which affects such State.” 94 Stat. 2796, 42 U. S. C. § 9614(c) (emphasis added).

 As appellants concede, the New Jersey Spill Fund “has subsidiary purposes that do not duplicate those of CERCLA.” Brief for Appellants 22, n. 24. For example, while Spill Fund moneys may be used to pay for petroleum and crude oil spills, N. J. Stat. Ann. § 58:10-28.11b(k) (West Supp. 1985), Superfund expressly excludes such pollutants from its definition of “hazardous substances,” § 101(14), 94 Stat. 2769, 42 U. S. C. § 9601(14). In addition, New Jersey’s Spill Fund authorizes payments for income or property value losses caused by damage resulting from a discharge of hazardous substances, and covers the cost of restoration or replacement of natural resources damaged or destroyed by a discharge. N. J. Stat. Ann. § 58:10-23.11g(a) (West 1982). In contrast, the federal Superfund provides limited damages coverage in relation to natural resources, and authorizes such compensation only if the release occurred after December 11, 1980, and only if the claimants are the United States or a State. §§ 107(a)(4)(A), 107(f), 111(e)(2), 111(d)(1), 94 Stat. 2781, 2783, 2789-2790, 42 U. S. C. §§ 9607(a)(4)(A), 9607(f), 9611(c)(2), 9611(d)(1). Additional expenditures authorized by the State Spill Fund, but not by its federal counterpart, include (1) the purchase and prepositioning of equipment to respond to release of hazardous substances, compare N. J. Stat. Ann. §58:10-23.11o(4) (West Supp. 1985), with § 114(c), 94 Stat. 2796, 42 U. S. C. § 9614(c); (2) expenses related to administration of the State Spill Fund, see N. J. Stat. Ann. § 58:10-23.11o(4); and (3) research concerning pollution and cleanup techniques, including ocean pollution, see §§ 58:10-23.11o(3), (5). The Spill Fund statute is also authorized to pay the 10% state share “of the costs of the remedial action, including all future maintenance” required in order to qualify for federal funding which is not compensated by Superfund, § 104(c)(3), 94 Stat. 2775-2776, 42 U. S. C. § 9604(c)(3). See N. J. Stat. Ann. §§ 58:10-23.11o(1), (2) (West Supp. 1985). Appellants argued in state court that taxes for this purpose contravene § 114(c).

 The explanation for the absence of committee reports and for the brief remarks on the floor lies in the fact that the compromise legislation that became Superfund was introduced as a floor amendment in the Senate in the waning days of the lame-duck session of the 96th Congress. The lineal ancestor of Superfund, S. 1480, was reported out of Committee on November 18, 1980 — after the national elections had changed the political complexion by assuring the Republicans control of the Presidency and of the Senate in 1981. In the aftermath of the November elections, S. 1480, along with three other bills, became the subject of an llth-hour compromise forged primarily in the Senate. The original provision in S. 1480 for a $4.1 billion fund was dramatically reduced to $1.6 billion and, of importance to our inquiry, § 114(c) was added.

 I recognize that some language in this colloquy may be read to imply that § 114(e) pre-empts only those state funds whose purpose is to compensate for claims actually paid for by Superfund. See 126 Cong. Rec. 30949 (1980) (remarks of Sen. Bradley and Sen. Randolph), reprinted in 1 Leg. Hist. 731-732. See also 97 N. J. 526, 536-544, 481 A. 2d 271, 276-281 (1984). I agree with the Court that this interpretation conflicts with the “may be compensated” language of § 114(c), would trivialize it by rendering only actual conflicts pre-empted, and would render superfluous the proviso to § 114(c) that States may use “general revenues for such a fund” to pay “costs of response or damages . . . which may be compensated” under Superfund. See ante, at 370-371. Besides, it seems odd to suppose that States would choose to compensate claims already redressed by federal funds. In addition to these deficiencies, the colloquy inaccurately refers to a 180-day grace period before pre-emption would take effect and to compensation for damage caused by oil spills. See ante, at 373-374, n. 17. In light of the haste with which this legislation was passed, and the consequent inaccuracies of some of the remarks regarding the details of the legislation, I consider the remarks on the floor only at a high level of generality.

 See Chicago & N. W. Transp. Co. v. Kalo Brick & Tile Co., 450 U. S. 311, 317 (1981) (“Pre-emption of state law by federal statute or regulation is not favored ‘in the absence of persuasive reasons —either that the nature of the regulated subject matter permits no other conclusion, or that the *383Congress has unmistakably so ordained’” (quoting Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul, 373 U. S. 132, 142 (1963)).

 New Jersey recognizes an obligation to expend Spill Fund moneys in furtherance of purposes not benefited by Superfund, and has promulgated regulations intended to promote administration of the State Spill Fund in conformity with Superfund by circumscribing permissible expenditures. See Regulations Governing New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund Expenditures in Light of Federal Superfund Law, N. J. Admin. Code 17:26-2.1 (Supp. 1985). These regulations limit Spill Fund expenditures to the following eight purposes: (1) “[t]he clean-up and removal of a petroleum or petroleum products discharge”; (2) certain third-party damages payments; (3) “[t]he administrative costs of the fund”; (4) “[t]he cost of purchasing or pre-positioning hazardous substance response equipment or other preparations for the response”; (5) the 10% state share of remedial costs; (6) the advancement of moneys for the cleanup and removal of hazardous substances for which the State has a prior commitment for reimbursement from Superfund; (7) for the above purpose if the state fund administrator promptly applies for federal reimbursement; and (8) any payments authorized by the Act using tax revenues collected before the effective date of Superfund. 14 N. J. Reg. 36(b) (1982). Appellants have contested only purposes five through seven. See App. to Brief on Behalf of Plaintiffs-*385Appellants in No. A-3913-81T1 (N. J. Super. Ct.), pp. 122a-126a. See also n. 4, supra. Appellants’ challenge to the validity of the fifth purpose is not pressed in this Court; the sixth and seventh purposes provide for the advancement of cleanup funds (in effect, loans) in anticipation of an award of federal funds.
These regulations were held invalid by the New Jersey intermediate appellate court for failure to satisfy a statutory notice period, 190 N. J. Super. 131, 133-134, 462 A. 2d 193, 195 (1983), and they are not before us. According to the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law, the regulation, although invalid, is still “on the books.” Further action presumably awaits the decision of this Court.

 Indeed, the record on which the New Jersey Tax Court awarded summary judgment was so lacking in information regarding Spill Fund expenditures that appellants saw the need to supplement the record in this Court.

 If the New Jersey courts were to hold that the proscribed purposes were severable from the permissible ones, appellants would be entitled to *386no refund. If they were to find instead that the legitimate purposes were inseparable from the purposes described in § 114(c), the Spill Fund would stand or fall in its entirety.
It seems likely that the New Jersey courts would find the invalid provisions severable. The New Jersey Tax Court found a “legislative intent that every purpose of spill fund was to be accomplished” and concluded that “the Legislature specifically envisioned that the spill act would be enforced in conjunction with any other applicable law.” Exxon Corp. v. Hunt, 4 N. J. Tax 294, 320 (1982). Accordingly, it held that “even if § 114(c) of super fund could be construed to preempt part of spill fund, the aforementioned nonpreempted areas are more than sufficient to sustain its continued validity.” Ibid. The New Jersey Supreme Court acknowledged the Tax Court’s alternative holding, but relied on its primary holding that § 114(c) pre-empted only claims actually compensated to uphold the Spill Fund. See 97 N. J., at 530, 481 A. 2d, at 273.