State of Utah By and Through Div. of Parks and Recreation v. Marsh, 81-1528

• Decision Date: 03 August 1984
• Docket Number: No. 81-1528,81-1528
• Citation: 740 F.2d 799
• Parties: , 14 Envtl. L. Rep. 20,683 STATE OF UTAH, By and Through its DIVISION OF PARKS AND RECREATION, Plaintiff- Appellant, v. John O. MARSH, Secretary of the Army; et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 799

740 F.2d 799

21 ERC 2142, 14 Envtl. L. Rep. 20,683

STATE OF UTAH, By and Through its DIVISION OF PARKS AND RECREATION, Plaintiff- Appellant, v. John O. MARSH, Secretary of the Army; et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 81-1528.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Aug. 3, 1984.

Dallin W. Jensen, Asst. Atty. Gen. of the State of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (David L. Wilkinson, Atty. Gen., Richard L. Dewsnup and Michael M. Quealy, Asst. Attys. Gen., Salt Lake City, Utah, were on brief), for plaintiff-appellant.

Robert L. Klarquist, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C. (Brent D. Ward, U.S. Atty., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Carol E. Dinkins, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dirk D. Snel and Fred R. Disheroon, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., were also on brief), for defendants-appellees.

Before SETH, Chief Judge, and HOLLOWAY and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

The question before us is whether Congress is empowered under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution to regulate the discharge of dredged or fill material into Utah Lake, when the waters of the lake are not capable of bearing interstate navigation but are otherwise used to sustain and foster interstate commerce. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the federal defendants, and plaintiff, the State of Utah, appeals. We affirm.

I

The facts of this case are not in dispute. Utah Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the State of Utah, with a surface area of approximately 150 square miles. Originally a natural lake, it has been developed into a storage reservoir through the construction of a dam at the point where the Jordan River, the outlet stream, leaves the lake. It is also referred to as the "hub" of the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project, a plan to collect, develop, and divert water in the Bonneville and Uinta Basins of central Utah for municipal, industrial, agricultural, and recreational purposes. ¹ Water flows into the lake from tributary streams in the Upper Jordan River Basin, ground water from underground basins, precipitation on the lake proper, and some return flow from irrigation imports from the Colorado River and the Weber River drainage. Although more than half of this water is lost through evaporation, about 200,000 acre-feet of it is delivered down the Jordan River to irrigation canals and to industry. Part of it spills or is waste water running down the Jordan River to the Great Salt Lake. II R. 5-12, 17, 35; Defendants' Exhibit 1, at 151, 181.

The State of Utah, through its Division of Parks and Recreation, owns and operates Utah Lake State Park, located on the east shore of Utah Lake. The park facilities include a marina and a recreational boat harbor. In the winter of 1978-1979, the Division of Parks and Recreation installed several new concrete boat launching ramps, and in doing so placed a small cofferdam across the mouth of the boat harbor. After the boat ramps were constructed, the cofferdam was removed, and the dam material was deposited on the other side of the harbor as a base for an extension of a parking lot. I R. 4; Appellant's Brief 2-3.

In April 1979, the Division of Parks and Recreation received a letter from the District Engineer of the Army Corps of Engineers stating that the placement and subsequent removal of the cofferdam constituted a violation of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344, in that the State had failed to obtain a permit for the placement of fill material in Utah Lake, a body of water over which the Corps claimed jurisdiction as "waters of the United States." I R. 4-5.

In May 1979, the State of Utah commenced this action against the Secretary of the Army, the Chief of Engineers, and subordinate federal officers. The complaint alleged, in substance, that Utah Lake is a navigable body of water located entirely within Utah, with no navigable tributary or outlet extending beyond the borders of the State of Utah, and that as such Utah Lake "is beyond the constitutional reach of the regulatory authority of Congress." I R. 2. The complaint further asserted that the Corps of Engineers was claiming regulatory jurisdiction over the lake, when the Corps notified the State that a permit should have been obtained prior to removing an unpermitted cofferdam in Utah Lake and placing the removed material below the lake's ordinary high water elevation. The complaint requested the district court to enter a judgment declaring that the Corps has no lawful regulatory authority or jurisdiction in, on, or around Utah Lake and, in addition, to enter an order enjoining defendants from interfering with the State's operations and activities in, on, and around Utah Lake.

The federal defendants filed an answer denying that the Corps of Engineers lacked regulatory authority over Utah Lake. I R. 7. Thereafter, both sides filed motions for summary judgment, but were unable to agree on a stipulation of relevant facts. Id. at 13-14, 19, 26, 31. Accordingly, the district court issued an order requiring an evidentiary hearing and stating that under United States v. Earth Sciences, Inc., 599 F.2d 368 (10th Cir.1979), the relevant factual issue to be determined at such hearing was whether Utah Lake affected interstate commerce. I R. 31-32.

At the evidentiary hearing the Corps was the only party to produce testimony, and none of its evidence was rebutted by the State. The evidence purported to show that Utah Lake affects interstate commerce because, inter alia, the lake is used by interstate travelers for public recreation, and waters from the lake are used for irrigating crops sold in interstate commerce. Further, the lake supports a commercial fishery which markets the bulk of its product out of state. Utah did not attempt to controvert any of the evidence presented by the federal defendants, because it deemed such evidence to be irrelevant to the basic constitutional issues raised in this case. Appellant's Brief 5.

Following the hearing, the district court entered an order finding that "33 U.S.C. Section 1344 is constitutional and that Utah Lake affects interstate commerce ...." ² The court entered summary judgment in favor of the federal defendants, and dismissed the complaint.

This appeal followed.

II

The statutory framework governing this case is the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA or the Act), 33 U.S.C. Secs. 1251-1376 (1976 & Supp. II 1978). The objective of the Act is "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters." FWPCA Sec. 101(a), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251(a). As part of a comprehensive plan to achieve these goals, Congress provided, in Sec. 301(a) of the FWPCA, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1311(a), that the discharge of any pollutant by any person ³ shall be unlawful unless it is made in compliance with Sec. 301 and other specified provisions of the Act. One of these specified provisions is Sec. 404, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344. Section 404(a) provides that the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, may issue permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material into the "navigable waters" at specified disposal sites, subject to certain guidelines and procedures. Section 404(f)(2) provides that:

Any discharge of dredged or fill material into the navigable waters incidental to any activity having as its purpose bringing an area of the navigable waters into a use to which it was not previously subject, where the flow or circulation of navigable waters may be impaired or the reach of such waters be reduced, shall be required to have a permit under this section.

As defined in Sec. 502(7) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1362(7), the term "navigable waters" means "the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas." ⁴ It is generally agreed that Congress, by adopting this definition, intended to assert federal jurisdiction over the nation's waters to the maximum extent permissible under the Constitution, unlimited by traditional concepts of navigability. See United States v. Texas Pipe Line Co., 611 F.2d 345, 347 (10th Cir.1979); United States v. Earth Sciences, Inc., 599 F.2d 368, 375 (10th Cir.1979); United States v. Lambert, 695 F.2d 536, 538 (11th Cir.1983); Deltona Corp. v. United States, 657 F.2d 1184, 1186, 228 Ct.Cl. 476 (1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1017, 102 S.Ct. 1712, 72 L.Ed.2d 135 (1982); United States v. Byrd, 609 F.2d 1204, 1209 (7th Cir.1979); Leslie Salt Co. v. Froehlke, 578 F.2d 742, 754-55 (9th Cir.1978); Minnesota v. Hoffman, 543 F.2d 1198, 1200 n. 1 (8th Cir.1976), appeal dismissed, 430 U.S. 977, 97 S.Ct. 1672, 52 L.Ed.2d 373 (1977).

Utah's brief says that the State accepts the decisions of the lower federal courts to the effect that Congress "implemented the full width, breadth and thrust of the Commerce power, unlimited by any concept of navigability. What Utah is not willing to accept in those decisions is the legal conclusion that Section 404 is within the constitutional bounds of the Commerce Clause." Appellant's Brief 58-59. The State contends that the reach of congressional power under the Commerce Clause does not extend to Utah Lake because that lake has no navigable connection in interstate commerce and the lake, by itself, does not affect interstate commerce. This conclusion, it asserts, is compelled by a line of Supreme Court cases dating from Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824), The Daniel Ball, 77 U.S. (10 Wall.) 557, 19 L.Ed. 999 (1870), The Montello, 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 411, 20 L.Ed. 191 (1870), and others, which deal with the federal regulation of navigable waters. ⁵

We must disagree. Article I, Sec. 8, cl. 3, confers on Congress the power "[t]o regulate Commerce ... among the several States ...." "Thus the power of Congress to promote interstate commerce also includes the power to regulate the local incidents thereof, including local activities in both the States of origin and destination, which might have a...