S. Camden Citizens v. NJ Dept. Envtl. Prot.
| Decision Date | 17 December 2001 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 01-2224,01-2296,s. 01-2224 |
| Citation | 274 F.3d 771 |
| Parties | (3rd Cir. 2001) SOUTH CAMDEN CITIZENS IN ACTION; GENEVA SANDERS; PAULINE WOODS; BARBARA PFEIFER; JULITA GILLIARD; OSCAR LISBOA; SHIRLEY RIOS; PHYLLIS HOLMES; GWEN PETERSON; LATOYA COOPER; JULIO LUGO v. NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; ROBERT C. SHINN, JR., COMMISSIONER OF THE NJ DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY ST. LAWRENCE CEMENT CO., L.L.C., INTERVENOR IN D.C., APPELLANT. SOUTH CAMDEN CITIZENS IN ACTION; GENEVA SANDERS; PAULINE WOODS; BARBARA PFEIFER; JULITA GILLIARD; OSCAR LISBOA; SHIRLEY RIOS; PHYLLIS HOLMES; GWEN PETERSON; LATOYA COOPER; JULIO LUGO v. NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; ROBERT C. SHINN, JR., COMMISSIONER OF THE NJ DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY ST. LAWRENCE CEMENT CO., L.L.C., INTERVENOR IN D.C., NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; ROBERT C. SHINN, JR., APPELLANTS |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.C. Civ. No. 01-00702) District Judge: Honorable Stephen M. Orlofsky
Olga D. Pomar (argued) Camden Regional Legal Services 745 Market Street Camden, NJ 08102, Jerome Balter, Michael Churchill (argued) Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia 125 South 9th Street Suite 700 Philadelphia, PA 19107, and Luke W. Cole Center on Race, Poverty & The Environment 631 Howard Street Suite 330 San Francisco, CA 94114, for appellees South Camden Citizens in Action, Geneva Sanders, Pauline Woods, Barbara Pfeifer, Julita Gilliard, Oscar Lisboa, Shirley Rios, Phyllis Holmes, Gwen Peterson, Latoya Cooper, Julio Lugo.
John J. Farmer, Jr. Attorney General Stefanie A. Brand (argued) Deputy Attorney
General 124 Halsey Street P.O. Box 45029 Newark, NJ 07101, and James M. Murphy Patrick DeAlmeida Deputy Attorneys General Office of Attorney General of New Jersey Division of Law Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex P.O. Box 112 Trenton, NJ 08625, for appellants New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Robert C. Shinn Jr.
Brian S. Montag (argued) Catherine A. Trinkle Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch 200 Campus Drive Florham Park, NJ 07932, for appellant St. Lawrence Cement Co.
Robin S. Conrad National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc. 1615 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 200062, and Robert R. Gasaway Daryl Joseffer Kirkland & Ellis 655 Fifteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036, for amicus curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States.
James M. Sheehan General Counsel Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Suite 225 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA 17120, for amicus curiae Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
John P. Krill, Jr., Linda J. Shorey, David R. Fine, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Llp 240 North Third Street Harrisburg, PA 17101, for amici curiae Robert C. Jubelirer and Matthew J. Ryan.
Frederick F. Fitchett, III Jill Manuel-Coughlin Cureton Caplan Hunt Scaramella & Clark, P.C. 950b Chester Avenue Delran, NJ 08075, for amicus curiae South Jersey Port Corporation.
Michael W. Steinberg Morgan, Lewis & Bockius Llp 1800 M Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036, for amici curiae National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council, and Chemistry Industry Council of New Jersey.
Daniel J. Popeo Richard A. Samp Washington Legal Foundation 2009 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036, for amici curiae Washington Legal Foundation, National Black Chamber of Commerce, and Allied Educational Foundation.
Robert A. Matthews Lawrence J. Joseph McKenna & Cuneo, L.L.P. 1900 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006, for amicus curiae American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
John J. Gibbons, Lawrence S. Lustberg, Risa E. Kaufman, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione One Riverfront Plaza Newark, NJ 07102, for amici curiae American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
Lawrence W. Lindsay, Justin T. Loughry, Loughry and Lindsay, Llc 309 Market Street Camden, NJ 08102, for amici curiae Bridge of Peace Community Church, Fettersville Neighborhood Task Force, Concerned Citizens of North Camden, The Greater Camden Unity Coalition, Leavenhouse, South Jersey Campaign for Peace and Justice, Gray Panthers of South Jersey, Dar Al Salaam/Africana Islamic Mission, New Jersey Environmental Federation, and Camden County Green Party.
Thomas Henderson, Esq. Janette L. Wipper, Esq. Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 1408 New York Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005-2124, Robert J. Del Tufo Ellen O'Connell Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Llp One Newark Center - 18th Floor Newark, NJ 07102 Dennis Courtland Hayes National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 4801 Mount Hope Road Baltimore, MD 21215, Ronald Thompson Garden State Bar Association Law Office of Ronald Thompson 213 South Harrison Street East Orange, NJ 07018, Ken Kimerling Margaret Fung Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund 99 Hudson Street - 12th Floor New York, NY 10013, Elaine R. Jones Theodore M. Shaw Norman J. Chachkin Naacp Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. 99 Hudson Street, Suite 1600 New York, NY 10013-2897, and Regina Waynes Joseph Garden State Bar Association 320 South Harrison Street 16th Floor East Orange, NJ 07018-1333, for amici curiae Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Naacp Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Garden State Bar Association.
Bradford Mank University of Cincinnati College of Law P.O. Box 210040 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0040, for amici curiae Law Professors Concerned about Environmental Justice.
Julie H. Hurwitz, Alma L. Lowry, National Lawyers' Guild/ Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice 645 Griswold, Suite 1800 Detroit, MI 48266 Denise Hoffner-Brodsky The Sierra Club 85 Second Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105, and Douglas W. Henkin, Michele Host Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, Llp 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza New York, NY 10005-1413, for amici curiae Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Law in the Public Interest, National Health Law Program, National Senior Citizens Law Center, New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, National Lawyers' Guild/Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Social and Economic Justice, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Sierra Club.
Michelle B. Alvarez, Mark A. Izeman, Eric A. Goldstein Natural Resources Defense Council 40 West 20th Street New York, NY 10011, for amici curiae Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense.
Before: Mckee, Ambro, and Greenberg, Circuit Judges
This matter comes on before this court on appeals by defendant-appellant New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ("NJDEP") and intervenor-appellant St. Lawrence Cement Co., L.L.C. ("St. Lawrence") from the district court's order granting preliminary injunctive relief to plaintiffs, South Camden Citizens in Action and ten residents of the Waterfront South neighborhood of Camden, New Jersey. Plaintiffs brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. S 1983, as well as on other bases, claiming NJDEP discriminated against them by issuing an air permit to St. Lawrence to operate a facility that would have an adverse disparate racial impact upon them in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. SS 2000d to 2000d-7.
Our opinion focuses on whether, following the Supreme Court's recent decision in Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275, 121 S.Ct. 1511 (2001), plaintiffs can maintain this action under section 1983 for disparate impact discrimination in violation of Title VI and its implementing regulations. For the reasons we set forth, we hold that an administrative regulation cannot create an interest enforceable under section 1983 unless the interest already is implicit in the statute authorizing the regulation, and that inasmuch as Title VI proscribes only intentional discrimination, the plaintiffs do not have a right enforceable through a 1983 action under the EPA's disparate impact discrimination regulations. Because the district court predicated its order granting injunctive relief on section 1983, we will reverse.
As we ultimately decide this appeal on a legal basis and the district court's opinions stated the facts at length, we only need summarize the factual background of this case. Initially, we point out that the residents of Waterfront South are predominately minorities and the neighborhood is disadvantaged environmentally.1 Waterfront South contains two Superfund sites, several contaminated and abandoned industrial sites, and many currently operating facilities, including chemical companies, waste facilities, food processing companies, automotive shops, and a petroleum coke transfer station. Moreover, NJDEP has granted permits for operation of a regional sewage treatment plant, a trash-to-steam incinerator and a co-generation power plant in the neighborhood. As a result, Waterfront South, though only one of 23 Camden neighborhoods, hosts 20% of the city's contaminated sites and, on average, has more than twice the number of facilities with permits to emit air pollution than exist in the area encompassed within a typical New Jersey zip code.
St. Lawrence supplies cement materials, primarily to the ready-mix concrete industry. One aspect of St. Lawrence's business is the processing of ground granulated blast furnace slag ("GBFS"), a sand-like by-product of the steel-making industry, used in portland cement. In 1998, St. Lawrence wanted to open a GBFS grinding facility on a site in Camden owned by the South Jersey Port Corporation (the "P...
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