Friends of the Earth v. Carey

76 F.R.D. 33, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15118
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 5, 1977
DocketNo. 74 Civ. 4500
StatusPublished

This text of 76 F.R.D. 33 (Friends of the Earth v. Carey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Friends of the Earth v. Carey, 76 F.R.D. 33, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15118 (S.D.N.Y. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

KEVIN THOMAS DUFFY, District Judge.

Plaintiffs have moved this Court for an order compelling the city defendants to comply with Strategy B-3 of the Transportation Control Plan, the parking reduction strategy, as it is incorporated into the February 22, 1977 order of this Court.

The defendant United States Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA) has joined in the plaintiffs’ application. The city defendants have cross-moved to modify or to stay the February 22,1977 order. The State apparently has joined in the city’s motion.

Prior to discussing the arguments advanced by the parties, it would be useful to briefly outline the history of the Transportation Control Plan and of this case.

In 1970 Congress amended the Clean Air Act to require the Administrator of the EPA to establish two types of air quality standards: the “primary’ambiant”, which was intended to protect the public health, [35]*35and the “secondary ambiant”, designed to protect the public welfare.

The primary standards governing pollution levels were promulgated on April 30, 1971. Section 110(a) of the Clean Air Act required each State to submit a plan providing for implementation, maintenance and enforcement of the primary standards. Each State plan was to be filed by April 1973, and the primary air quality standards actually met by May 31, 1975.

The State of New York did in fact submit a plan to the EPA on April 17, 1973, entitled “The Transportation Control Plan for the Metropolitan New York City Area,” which contained 32 so-called strategies for reducing air pollution. Among them were the four strategies contained in my February 22, 1977 order: a selective ban on taxi cruising, a limitation on after-hour deliveries, a reduction of parking and the imposition of tolls on the East and Harlem River crossings.

On June 22, 1973, the EPA approved the plan submitted by the State of New York with a few modifications including the grant, at the State’s request, of a 19-month extension to comply with the photo-chemical oxidant and carbon monoxide standards.

Following the EPA approval, a group known as Friends of the Earth petitioned the Court of Appeals pursuant to Section 207(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act for review of the approved New York plan, alleging that it was inadequate to meet the air quality standards of the Act. The Court of Appeals substantially upheld the plan and remanded to the EPA for review of several aspects of the plan. In the same opinion the Court of Appeals, by Judge Lumbard, declined to order compliance with the plan on the ground that the jurisdiction to enforce did not lie with the Court of Appeals, but rather with the District Court through an enforcement action brought by the EPA under Section 113 of the Clean Air Act, or by a private citizen under Section 306.

On August 5, 1974, the plaintiffs served notice under Section 304(b)(1)(a) of their intention to commence a citizens’ suit. On October 11, 1974, at the expiration of the required sixty-day waiting period the plaintiffs commenced this action. Thereafter, the plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction enforcing the plan. In oral argument the Assistant Attorney General representing the State of New York acknowledged that, and I quote: “This plan is a legally enforceable plan, is a legally adequate plan and that the State is committed to fulfilling its responsibilities thereunder.”

At that time the Assistant Attorney General also advised this Court that the Governor Elect supported fully the implementation of the plan as it existed. The attorney for the city defendants argued that I should deny the injunction, in light of the penden-cy of negotiations with the EPA aimed at a revision of the plan.

On December 16, 1974, I ruled that “The policy favoring judicial restraint in cases such as this coupled with the probability of enforcement action by the USEPA dictate the application for preliminary injunction at this time be denied.” 389 F.Supp. 1394, 1396.

Seven months later plaintiffs moved for an injunction against the planned increase in the New York City subway fare and again moved for injunction enforcing the Transportation Control Plan. Once again I denied the injunction against the fare increase, since the Transportation Control Plan contained no provision addressing the subway fare. And I denied the renewed request for enforcement of the plan and denied summary judgment to the plaintiffs. 401 F.Supp. 1386.

On August 29, the day after my filing that opinion, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal from my order.

On September 23,1975, the city moved to dismiss the complaint on the constitutional grounds. The motion was held in abeyance pending the appeal to the Second Circuit.

On April 26,1976, a panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed my decision not to enjoin the fare increase, but reversed my denial of summary judgment to the plaintiffs. In so doing the Court of Appeals stated as follows:

[36]*36In denying relief under the citizen suit provision the Court referred to the existence of ongoing negotiations between the EPA and the State and City authorities designed to reach consent decrees in carrying out the Plan’s mandated strategies. We join the District Court in recognizing the utility of such deliberations and the desirability of obtaining compliance through consensual means. But it is equally clear that the statute empowers neither the EPA nor the State to delay the approved Plan’s strategies through negotiations, be they formal or otherwise. Negotiations are no substitute for enforcement and for timely compliance with the Plan’s mandated strategies. Consequently, the District Court erred in permitting the continuation of the EPA-. State discussions to bar suit by citizens groups seeking judicial enforcement of the Plan’s expressed provisions. The Act authors only two procedural routes for modifying the Plan: a Section 110(a)(3) revision or a Section 110(f) postponement. In all other instances the State is relegated to a lone option compliance. 535 F.2d 165, 178.

Partial summary judgment for the plaintiffs was then entered. The city petitioned the Court of Appeals for a rehearing. And although rehearing was denied, the Court of Appeals modified its mandate to permit me to consider the city’s motion to dismiss as previously mentioned, which was filed on September 23, 1975.

In an opinion on July 13, 1976, 422 F.Supp. 638,1 ruled, and I am quoting only in part, “that the proper construction of Section 304 is that citizen suits are authorized against the states and their subdivisions only to the extent that they are actual polluters or violators of the plan’s requirements.”

The parties appealed from my order and the plaintiff filed a petition for a writ of mandamus against me in the Court of Appeals.

On January 18,1977 the Court of Appeals reversed my determination and granted the petition for mandamus, directing me to reinstate partial summary judgment as to the four strategies.

In the course of its opinion the Court stated as follows:

At this date almost four years after the Administrator’s approval of the Plan, to permit the City to renege upon its commitments would defeat the purpose of the Act, which is to protect the public health.

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Related

United States v. Swift & Co.
286 U.S. 106 (Supreme Court, 1932)
O'BRIEN v. Brown
409 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Friends of the Earth v. Hugh Carey
535 F.2d 165 (Second Circuit, 1976)
Friends of the Earth v. Wilson
389 F. Supp. 1394 (S.D. New York, 1974)
Friends of the Earth v. Carey
401 F. Supp. 1386 (S.D. New York, 1975)
Friends of the Earth v. Carey
422 F. Supp. 638 (S.D. New York, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 F.R.D. 33, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/friends-of-the-earth-v-carey-nysd-1977.