State v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency, Case No.18-cv-03237-HSG

• Decision Date: 06 May 2019
• Docket Number: Case No.18-cv-03237-HSG
• Citation: 385 F.Supp.3d 903
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Parties: State of CALIFORNIA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, et al., Defendants.

385 F.Supp.3d 903

State of CALIFORNIA, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, et al., Defendants.

Case No.18-cv-03237-HSG

United States District Court, N.D. California.

Signed May 6, 2019

Elizabeth B. Rumsey, California State Attorney General's Office, Timothy Eugene Sullivan, Office of the Attorney General, Oakland, CA, Daniel Isaac Rottenberg, Illinois State Attorney General's Office, Chicago, IL, Leah Tulin, Office of the Maryland State Attorney General, Baltimore, MD, William G. Grantham, New Mexico Attorney General's Office, Albuquerque, NM, Ari Biernoff, New Mexico Attorney General's Office, Santa Fe, NM, Paul Andrew Garrahan, Oregon Department of Justice Natural Resources Section, Portland, OR, Michael John Fischer, Office of Attorney General, Philadelphia, PA, Nicholas F. Persampieri, Office of the Attorney General, Montpelier, VT, for Plaintiffs.

Leslie M. Hill, Martha Collins Mann, United States Department of Justice Environment & Natural Resources Divivision Environmental Defense Section, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Re: Dkt. Nos. 87, 92

HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR., United States District Judge Pending before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment filed by Plaintiffs¹ and Defendants U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Andrew R. Wheeler,² in his official capacity as Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (collectively, "EPA"), briefing for which is complete. Dkt. Nos. 87 ("Pls.' Mot."), 92 ("Defs.' Mot."), 93 ("Pls.' Reply"), 94 ("Defs.' Reply"). The parties agree there is no dispute that EPA failed to fulfill certain mandatory duties under 40 C.F.R. § 60.27. See Dkt. No. 58. The only questions before the Court is whether Plaintiffs have standing and, if so, how long to give EPA to comply with its long-overdue nondiscretionary duties.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Landfill Emissions

The relevant facts in this case are not in dispute. "The United States produces roughly 265 million tons of solid waste annually, or 4.5 pounds per person, per day ...." Dkt. No. 1 ("Compl.") ¶ 27; Dkt. No. 91 ("Answer") ¶ 27. Emitted from solid waste landfills are numerous harmful pollutants, including not only greenhouse gases but also "nearly thirty different organic hazardous air pollutants," which "present a range of public health and safety concerns." Compl. ¶¶ 28, 36; Answer ¶¶ 28, 36. These hazardous air pollutants "are known to cause adverse health effects ... including heart attacks

, asthma, and acute bronchitis leading to premature mortality." Compl. ¶ 36; Answer ¶ 36.

One such greenhouse gas is methane, a potent pollutant and the leading greenhouse gas behind carbon dioxide, which—along with other human-generated greenhouse gases—is "a significant driver of observed climate change." Compl. ¶¶ 2, 29; Answer ¶¶ 2, 29. Municipal solid waste landfills in particular "are the third-largest source of [domestic] human-related methane emissions." Compl. ¶ 29; Answer ¶ 29.

B. Landfill Emission Regulations

The Clean Air Act ("CAA" or the "Act") "protect[s] and enhance[s] the quality of the Nation's air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population." 42 U.S.C. § 7401(b)(1).³ To that end, the Act directs the EPA Administrator to "publish ... a list of categories of stationary sources" that "in [the Administrator's] judgment ... cause[ ], or contribute[ ] significantly to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." Id. § 7411(b)(1)(A). Once the agency includes a category of stationary sources in the list, the agency must "publish proposed regulations, establishing Federal standards of performance" for emission of pollutants from new or modified sources "within such category." Id. § 7411(b)(1)(B); see also id. § 7411(a)(2).

As relevant here, the Act also requires the regulation of "existing sources" that fall within the same category, provided that the emissions are not already covered by certain other CAA programs. See id. § 7411(d). Specifically, the CAA states that "[t]he Administrator shall prescribe regulations which shall establish a procedure similar to that provided by section 7410 of this title under which each State shall submit to the Administrator a plan [that] establishes standards of performance," and "provides for the implementation and enforcement of such standards of performance." Id. § 7411(d)(1). The Act further provides that the Administrator has authority to promulgate a federal implementation plan "in cases where [a] State fails to submit a satisfactory plan." Id. § 7411(d)(2); see also id. § 7410(c).

Consistent with the CAA's instruction, EPA promulgated regulations, which established deadlines for the implementation of emission guidelines. According to the regulations, once EPA published an emission guideline, each State to which the guideline pertained was required to "adopt and submit to the Administrator ... a plan" to implement the guideline "[w]ithin nine months." 40 C.F.R. § 60.23(a). The agency then was required to "approve or disapprove" such implementation plans "within four months after the date required for submission of a plan or plan revision." Id. § 60.27(b). Last, if states to which the guideline pertained did not submit an implementation plan or EPA disapproved of a submitted plan, the Administrator was required, "within six months after the date required for submission of a plan or plan revision, [to] promulgate [a federal plan]" to implement the guideline. Id. § 60.27(d).

On August 29, 2016, EPA promulgated a final rule related to Municipal Solid Waste ("MSW") landfills. Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills , 81 Fed. Reg. 59,276 (Aug. 29, 2016) ("Landfill Emissions Guidelines"). The Landfill Emissions Guidelines were the result of decades of consideration, as EPA first proposed rules regulating such emissions in 1991. Compl. ¶ 38; Answer ¶ 38. And in 1996, EPA promulgated landfill emission guidelines, which explained that landfill emissions are "a significant source of air pollution" and that the guidelines aimed to "significantly reduce landfill gas emissions, which have adverse effects on human health and welfare." Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources and Guidelines for Control of Existing Sources: Municipal Solid Waste Landfills , 61 Fed. Reg. 9,905, 9,909, 9,918 (Mar. 12, 1996). The Administrator in particular determined "that municipal solid waste landfills cause, or contribute significantly to, air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." Id. at 9905.

The Landfill Emissions Guidelines became effective on October 28, 2016. In turn, according to EPA's regulations:

1. States were required to submit implementation plans by May 30, 2017, see 40 C.F.R. § 60.23(a)(1) ;

2. EPA was required to approve or disapprove submitted plans by September 30, 2017, see 40 C.F.R. § 60.27(b) ; and

3. If either (i) states to which the guideline pertained did not submit implementation plans, or (ii) EPA disapproved a submitted plan, then EPA was required to promulgate a federal plan by November 30, 2017, see 40 C.F.R. § 60.27(d).

As of May 30, 2017, EPA received implementation plans as described by the regulations from California and two from New Mexico—one covering Albuquerque and Bernalillo County and another covering the rest of New Mexico. Defs.' Mot. at 1–2 & n.2 (citing Dkt. No. 92-1 ("Lassiter Decl.") ¶ 15); see also Dkt. No. 58 ¶ 2. Subsequently, EPA received implementation plans from Arizona (one covering Maricopa County and another covering the remainder of the state), Delaware, and West Virginia. Defs.' Mot. at 1–2 & n.2 (citing Lassiter Decl. ¶ 15); see also Dkt. No. 58 ¶ 2. To date, EPA has neither approved or disapproved of any submitted plans nor promulgated a federal plan. Dkt. No. 58 ¶¶ 1–2. Accordingly, Plaintiffs brought this action, which asks this Court to "[i]ssue a declaratory judgment that, by failing to implement and enforce the Emission Guidelines, EPA has violated the Clean Air Act;" and "[i]ssue a mandatory injunction compelling EPA to implement and enforce the Emission Guidelines." Compl. at 19.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Summary judgment is appropriate if, viewing the evidence and drawing all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, "there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) ; Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

The parties agree that this case is properly resolved on their cross-motions for summary judgment. Pls.' Mot. at 1; Defs.' Mot. at 6. When there is no dispute that an agency failed to timely fulfill a nondiscretionary obligation, summary judgment is the appropriate mechanism to determine when compliance is due. See, e.g. , In re Ozone Designation Litig. , 286 F. Supp. 3d 1082, 1085 (N.D. Cal. 2018) (setting deadlines for EPA to comply with mandatory duties under the CAA at summary judgment). In those situations, courts generally have broad equitable discretion to fix an appropriate deadline. See Nat. Res. Def. Council v. Sw. Marine, Inc. , 236 F.3d 985, 999–1000 (9th Cir. 2000). That said, if Congress found that a certain amount of time was appropriate for the agency to complete its statutory duty in the first instance, that timeframe generally still controls. Sierra Club v. Thomas , 658 F. Supp. 165, 171 (N.D. Cal. 1987).

Courts should not, however, demand a deadline for agency compliance that is impossible or infeasible. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Train , 510 F.2d 692, 713 (D.C. Cir. 1974) ("The sound discretion of an equity court does not embrace enforcement through contempt of a party's duty to comply with an order that...