Rice v. Harken Exploration Co.

• Decision Date: 25 April 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99-11229,99-11229
• Citation: 250 F.3d 264,2001 WL 422051
• Parties: (5th Cir. 2001) D.E. RICE, Trustee for the Rice Family Living Trust; KAREN RICE, Trustee for the Rice Family Living Trust, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HARKEN EXPLORATION COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 264

250 F.3d 264 (5th Cir. 2001)

D.E. RICE, Trustee for the Rice Family Living Trust; KAREN RICE, Trustee for the Rice Family Living Trust, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HARKEN EXPLORATION COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 99-11229

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FIFTH CIRCUIT

April 25, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Before GARWOOD, HIGGINBOTHAM, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs-appellants D.E. and Karen Rice (the Rices) filed this suit against defendant-appellee Harken Exploration Company (Harken) alleging that Harken discharged oil into or upon "navigable waters" in violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 33 U.S.C. 2701-2720 (OPA), and also asserting several related state law claims. Harken moved for summary judgment on all claims and the district court granted its motion in part, on the ground that under the court's interpretation of the OPA and the facts alleged plaintiffs could not sustain a cause of action under the OPA. In the same order the district court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the plaintiffs' state law claims and remanded those claims to state court. The Rices now appeal the district court's grant of summary judgment, and request that their OPA claim be remanded for trial. We affirm.

Facts and Proceedings Below

Plaintiffs D.E. Rice and Karen Rice are trustees for the Rice Family Living Trust. The trust owns the surface rights to the property known as Big Creek Ranch in Hutchinson County, Texas. Harken Exploration Company is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Irving, Texas. The Rice Family Living Trust purchased Big Creek Ranch for $255,000 in 1995.

Harken owns and operates oil and gas properties pursuant to leases on Big Creek Ranch. Under these leases, Harken maintains various structures and equipment on the property for use in exploration and pumping, processing, transporting, and drilling for oil. Harken began its operations on Big Creek Ranch in January 1996. Prior to Harken's operations, the Big Creek Ranch property had been used for oil and gas production for several decades.

Big Creek is a small seasonal creek on the Rices' property. Big Creek runs across the ranch to the Canadian River, which is the southern boundary of Big Creek Ranch. The Canadian River is down gradient from Harken's oil and gas flow lines, tank batteries, and other production equipment. The Canadian River flows into the Arkansas River, which flows into the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. While the exact nature of Big Creek is unclear from the record, Harken does not dispute that the Canadian River is legally a "navigable water."

The Rices allege that Harken has discharged and continues to discharge hydrocarbons, produced brine, and other pollutants onto Big Creek Ranch and into "Big Creek," "unnamed tributaries of Big Creek" and other "independent ground and surface waters." They claim that Harken has contaminated or threatened 9,265.24 acre feet of groundwater and over ninety noncontiguous surface areas of the ranch. The plaintiffs do not allege that there has been any major event or events resulting in the discharge of oil onto Big Creek Ranch. Rather, the Rices allege that Harken damaged their land as a result of a series of smaller discharges that occurred over a considerable period of time. They allege that the cost to remediate the contamination of the soil and groundwater is $38,537,500.

Harken admits that there have been instances in which oil or produced brine was spilled or leaked from their tanks and other oil production equipment. Harken claims, however, that these discharges were of the sort that inevitably accompany any oil production operation and that in any case none of the discharges ever threatened "navigable waters" within the meaning of the OPA.

Harken moved for summary judgment in the district court, claiming, inter alia, that the OPA was not intended to cover spills of oil onto dry land that occurred hundreds of miles from any coast or shoreline. The district court essentially agreed, and held that the Rices could not sustain a cause of action under the OPA on the facts shown. The district court dismissed the Rices' related state law claims without prejudice. This appeal followed.

Discussion

We review an order granting summary judgment de novo. Hernandez v. Reno, 91 F.3d 776, 779 (5th Cir. 1996). Summary judgment is proper if "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). Summary judgment is appropriate in this case if the Rices have failed to produce summary judgment evidence of facts which, if viewed in the reasonable light most favorable to the Rices, do not suffice to establish a viable OPA claim. Where, as here, a proper motion for summary judgment has been made, the non-movant, in order to avoid summary judgment, must come forward with appropriate summary judgment evidence sufficient to sustain a finding in its favor on all issues on which it would bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986); Little v. Liquid Air Corp., 37 F.3d 1069 (5th Cir. 1994). On all material matters at issue here the Rices would bear the burden of proof at trial.

The OPA was enacted in 1990 in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and was intended to streamline federal law so as to provide quick and efficient cleanup of oil spills, compensate victims of such spills, and internalize the costs of spills within the petroleum industry. Senate Report No. 104-94, reprinted in 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 722, 723. The OPA imposes strict liability on parties responsible for the discharge of oil: "[E]ach responsible party for ... a facility from which oil is discharged, or which poses the substantial threat of a discharge of oil, into or upon the navigable waters or adjoining shorelines ... is liable for the removal costs and damages specified in subsection (b) that result from such incident."¹ 33 U.S.C. 2702(a). The OPA thus concerns facilities which discharge (or pose a substantial threat to discharge) oil "into or upon . . . navigable waters," and liability under the OPA is therefore governed by the impact of such a discharge on "navigable waters." The OPA and its related regulations define navigable waters to mean "the waters of the United States, including the territorial sea." 33 U.S.C. 2701(21); 15 C.F.R. 990.30. The scope of the OPA is an issue of first impression for this Court.

The Rices argue that the district court's interpretation of the term "navigable waters" in the OPA was erroneous. They claim the court erred by refusing to apply the OPA to inland areas.² Since Congress used the same language in both the OPA and the Clean Water Act,³ the Rices argue, the scope of both Acts should be similar and the OPA should apply to discharges into "waters of the United States" regardless of the distance of those waters from an ocean or similar body of water. The Rices also argue that the district court improperly excluded groundwater from "waters of the United States." Congress, the Rices claim, intended to extend its regulatory power to all waters that could affect interstate commerce when it enacted the OPA. Accordingly, the Rices would have this Court construe the OPA as imposing liability on facilities that discharge oil and related wastes into groundwater (or any other body of water) that affects interstate commerce. The Rices argue that under the proper interpretation of "navigable waters" they have a viable OPA claim since the groundwater under the ranch and the surface waters on the ranch have been impacted by Harken's discharges of oil. The Rices request that we remand this case to the district court for trial.

Although there have been few cases construing the OPA definition of "navigable waters," there is a substantial body of law interpreting that term as used in the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. (CWA). The CWA is also limited to "navigable waters," which is defined in both statutes as "waters of the United States." Compare 33 U.S.C. 2701(21) with 33 U.S.C. 1362(7). The House Conference Report on the OPA reads: "The terms 'navigable waters,' 'person,' and 'territorial seas' are re-stated verbatim from section 502 of the [CWA]. ... In each case, these [CWA] definitions shall have the same meaning in this legislation as they do under the [CWA] and shall be interpreted accordingly." House Conference Report No. 101-653, reprinted in 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 779, 779-80. The Senate Report is similar, and adds that the OPA is intended to cover inland waters as well: "The [OPA] covers all the bodies of water and resources covered by section 311 [of the CWA], including the inland waters of the United States...." Senate Report No. 101-94, reprinted in 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 722, 733.

The legislative history of the OPA and the textually identical definitions of "navigable waters" in the OPA and the CWA strongly indicate that Congress generally intended the term "navigable waters" to have the same meaning in both the OPA and the CWA. Accordingly, the existing case law interpreting the CWA is a significant aid in our present task of interpreting the OPA.

The Supreme Court has endorsed an interpretation of "navigable waters" as used in the CWA under which waters and wetlands need not always actually be navigable in fact to be protected under that Act. See United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, 474 U.S. 121, 133, 106 S.Ct. 462-63 (1985) (upholding regulations that CWA restricts discharges into non-navigable "wetlands" adjacent to an open body of navigable water).⁴ We have adopted a similarly broad interpretation of the language of the CWA. See Avoyelles Sportsman's League v. Marsh, 715 F.2d 897 (5th Cir. 1983). Other courts have also adopted expansive interpretations of ...