Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Whiting Roll-Up Door Manufacturing Corp.

772 F. Supp. 745, 21 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 21490, 34 ERC (BNA) 1300, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12326, 1991 WL 170944
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 3, 1991
DocketCIV-90-1109S
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 772 F. Supp. 745 (Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Whiting Roll-Up Door Manufacturing Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Whiting Roll-Up Door Manufacturing Corp., 772 F. Supp. 745, 21 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 21490, 34 ERC (BNA) 1300, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12326, 1991 WL 170944 (W.D.N.Y. 1991).

Opinion

ORDER

SKRETNY, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Now before this Court is the motion of defendant Whiting Roll-Up Door Manufacturing Corp. (“defendant”) to dismiss the Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), respectively. Alternatively, defendant moves for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.

*746 This lawsuit is a citizen’s enforcement action arising under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (“EPCRA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 11001 et seq. 1 In Counts One through Three of the Complaint, plaintiff Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. (“plaintiff”) alleges that the defendant has failed to submit timely certain hazardous chemical information to proper state and federal authorities pursuant to EPCRA’s reporting provisions, §§ 311, 312 and 313, 42 U.S.C. § 11021, 11022, and 11023 (“§ 311” “§ 312” “§ 313”), respectively, for the 1987-1989 reporting years. With regard to §§ 311 and 312 compliance, the plaintiff concedes that as of the date of suit the defendant has filed all required information. However, the plaintiff maintains that EPCRA authorizes a citizen suit, such as this, to recover civil penalties for wholly past violations, that is, where the defendant has “come into” compliance with EPCRA’s reporting provisions before the plaintiff commenced suit. With respect to § 313, the plaintiff contends that it has a good faith belief, as of the date it filed this lawsuit, that the defendant continues to be a nonreporter under that provision.

Plaintiff seeks the following relief: 1) a declaratory judgment regarding defendant’s liability for failure to meet the reporting requirements under. EPCRA; 2) pursuant to EPCRA § 325(c), 42 U.S.C. § 11045 (“§ 325”), civil penalties for violations of §§ 311-313 for the 1987-1989 reporting years; 3) permanent injunctive relief prohibiting further EPCRA violations; and 4) attorneys’ fees and costs.

Moving to dismiss this lawsuit, the defendant argues that EPCRA does not afford citizens, such as plaintiff, a right to sue for wholly past violations. Since, according to the defendant, the evidence demonstrates defendant’s compliance with all of EP-CRA’s reporting provisions before plaintiff filed this lawsuit, the defendant argues that this Court lacks jurisdiction of plaintiff’s lawsuit. Because the thrust of the defendant’s motion is that this Court lacks authority under EPCRA to hear plaintiff’s claim, this Court shall treat the defendant's motion as one pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1).

In support of its motion, the defendant submits a legal memorandum (“d. memo”); a reply memorandum, the affidavit of Paul Meosky, Esq. (“Meosky”); the affidavit of Michael Whiting with exhibits (“Whiting”) and the affidavit of Jerrold S. Brown, Esq.

In opposition to the defendant’s motion, the plaintiff submits a legal memorandum (“p. memo.”); the affidavit of Charles Tebbutt, Esq. (“Tebbutt”); and the affidavit of James Keane (“Keane”). Also, on behalf of the plaintiff, the Natural Resources Defense Counsel, Environmental Action, Inc. and the Public Interest Research Group of New Jersey, Inc. have, with permission of this Court, submitted an Amicus Curiae brief.

In ruling on the defendant’s motion, this Court has considered all these submissions and oral argument held on March 19, 1991.

Conclusion: For the reasons set forth below, this Court denies the defendant’s motion to dismiss the Complaint.

EPCRA GENERALLY

A consultation of the entirety of EP-CRA’s provisions reveals that the statute has two central objectives: public access to centralized information, at a reasonably localized level, concerning hazardous chemicals used, produced or stored in the community and the use of this information to formulate and administer local emergency response plans in case of a hazardous chemical release.

To achieve these objectives, EPCRA contains three reporting provisions, §§ 311— 313, which require owners or operators of a facility, as that term is defined at § .329(4), 42 U.S.C. § 11049(4), to submit certain specified information with respect to hazardous chemicals maintained at threshold levels to responsible state, local and, in the *747 case of § 313, federal authorities. Additionally, EPCRA §§ 301-305 provide for the formation of state and local emergency response commissions and planning committees designed to receive and collect this reported information, make the information available to the public, and develop emergency response plans should a chemical release occur.

In this lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant has failed to meet EPCRA’s reporting requirements. This Court will now address those requirements in greater detail.

A. EPCRA’s Reporting Requirements

As noted above, EPCRA contains three provisions, §§ 311-313, which require an owner or operator of a facility to submit information concerning hazardous chemicals to state, local and sometimes federal officials.

§ 311(a)(1) provides that an owner or operator of any facility which is required to prepare a Material Safety Data Sheet (“MSDS”) for a hazardous chemical under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”) “... shall submit ...” a MSDS for each chemical to the State emergency response commission, a local emergency planning committee and the local fire department. Alternatively, instead of filing a MSDS, an owner or operator may file a list of chemicals (“List”) for which OSHA requires the filing of a MSDS, along with other information required on the MSDS. With respect to an initial compliance date, § 311(d)(1) states:

(1) The initial material safety data sheet or list required under this section with respect to a hazardous chemical shall be provided before the later of—
(A) 12 months after October 17, 1986, or
(B) 3 months after the owner or operator of a facility is required to prepare or have available a material safety data sheet for the chemical under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 ... and regulations promulgated under that Act.

Although § 311 does not require annual reporting, § 311(d)(2) requires a facility to update its MSDS or List to reflect “... significant new information concerning an aspect of a hazardous chemical____”

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772 F. Supp. 745, 21 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 21490, 34 ERC (BNA) 1300, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12326, 1991 WL 170944, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atlantic-states-legal-foundation-inc-v-whiting-roll-up-door-nywd-1991.