United States v. Amoco Oil Co.

580 F. Supp. 1042, 20 ERC 1666, 14 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20533, 20 ERC (BNA) 1666, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20827
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedJanuary 3, 1984
Docket80-0801-CV-W-0
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 580 F. Supp. 1042 (United States v. Amoco Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Amoco Oil Co., 580 F. Supp. 1042, 20 ERC 1666, 14 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20533, 20 ERC (BNA) 1666, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20827 (W.D. Mo. 1984).

Opinion

ORDER ON THE PARTIES’ CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ROSS T. ROBERTS, District Judge.

The United States, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), seeks an assessment of civil penalties against Amoco Oil Company (“Amoco”), pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 1319(d), for alleged violations by Amoco of an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit regulating the discharge of effluents into the Missouri River in Jackson County, Missouri. The matter comes before me on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment or partial summary judgment.

A brief factual resume will suffice for present purposes. On December 31, 1975, the Missouri Clean Water Commission, acting under authorization from the EPA to conduct an NPDES program, see 33 U.S.C. § 1342(b), and Chapter 204, R.S.Mo. 1969 (as amended), issued NPDES permit “MO-0004774,” establishing certain effluent limits with respect to discharges from two outfalls (Outfall # 001 and Outfall # 003) at Amoco’s Sugar Creek refinery, located adjacent to the Missouri River near Kansas City, Missouri. The permit required that measurement samples be taken at least once per week with regard to various categories of effluents, and further specified that monitoring reports be submitted by Amoco on a quarterly basis. As to Outfall # 001, both “interim” and “final” limitation amounts were established for each type of effluent, with Amoco being required to achieve compliance with the “final” limits by July 1, 1977. Those limitation amounts, both as to “interim” and “final” limits, were specified in terms of a “daily average” figure. As to Outfall # 003, which carried discharges from the refinery’s *1044 water treatment plant (where Missouri River water was clarified for use in the refinery’s cooling system), the only limit allowed was in relation to “toral suspended solids” (“TSS”). The permit was to expire on December 30, 1980, although technically it still remains in effect since no new permit has been issued.

The United States filed suit on September 3, 1980, alleging (now under an amended complaint) that during each month from January, 1976, through June, 1980, except for the months of February, March and May of 1980, Amoco violated one or more of the interim or final “daily average” effluent limits set by the permit for Outfall # 001, and in addition, from August, 1978, to September, 1982, discharged unauthorized types of effluent from Outfall # 003. Amoco has denied all such charges.

In its present motion for summary judgment, the United States contends that Amoco’s own monitoring reports reflect discharges from Outfall # 001 in excess of permit limits for each month between and including January of 1976 and January of 1980, and for the months of April and June of 1980, as well as a continuous discharge of unauthorized effluents from Outfall # 003 between August 21, 1978 and June 1, 1982. On that basis the government suggests it is entitled to a partial summary judgment establishing the fact of Amoco’s liability for civil penalties, leaving only the amount thereof in controversy. Amoco counters with the assertion that, as concerns Outfall # 001, there are disputed material facts with regard to the meaning of the term “daily average,” and that with respect to Outfall # 003 the government has adduced no evidence of violations except for a four-day period between February 26 and March 1, 1979.

In connection with its own summary judgment motion,' Amoco suggests that if, for purposes of argument, one should accept as correct the government’s position that the term “daily average” actually means “monthly average” (or, more specifically, an “average of daily values for thirty consecutive days”),' it would be impossible to apply the penalty provisions of 33 U.S.C. § 1319(d) (which set the penalty limits at “$10,000 per day of such violation”) (emphasis added) to the violations which would thus be shown. Proceeding with that theory, Amoco argues that the suggested inability to impose any monetary penalty, and the lack of any need for in-junctive relief (Amoco has since terminated operations at the Sugar Creek facility), leaves the case effectively mooted with respect to Outfall # 001. As to Outfall # 003, Amoco suggests that with the exception of the four-day period between February 26 and March 1, 1979, there is no proof of a discharge of any unauthorized effluents.

Resolution of these matters may be facilitated by dealing with Amoco’s summary judgment request before treating the government’s; and accordingly I turn first to a disposition of Amoco’s motion.

I.

AMOCO’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION

A.

OUTFALL # 001

A grasp of the government’s position with respect to the term “daily average” is necessary to an understanding of Amoeo’s summary judgment argument concerning Outfall # 001. The government contends that the term — which is not, as such, defined either in the permit or in any applicable statute or regulation — actually was intended by the issuing authority and understood by Amoco to mean what the government refers to as a “monthly average” — an “[ajverage of daily values for thirty consecutive days.” See 40 C.F.R. § 419.12, setting forth the above-quoted language, in what the parties apparently agree is the accepted definition of “monthly average” as that term is used in NPDES permits. According to the government, an application of such a “monthly average” limitation might be demonstrated by the *1045 following example: if the “monthly” average figure for a particular effluent was set by the permit at 10, and if the effluent levels shown by once per week sampling during a given month were 9, 14, 8 and 12 (thus giving an average of 10.75), a violation would be shown to exist.

Amoco’s argument in connection with all of this is that since the language of 33 U.S.C. § 1319(d) specifies that the assessment of a civil penalty shall “not exceed $10,000 per day of such violation” (emphasis added), a violation which is capable of being penalized must be one which can be related to a specific, given day; and that, before a penalty can be imposed for a given day, a violation must be shown to have occurred on that specific day. In essence, Amoco’s position is that the civil penalty provisions of § 1319(d) cannot be applied unless the permit contains a “daily maximum” limit for the effluent in question.

Although there is a certain “first blush” attractiveness to defendant’s argument in this regard, I believe a proper interpretation of § 1319(d) requires rejection of the argument. First, the use of the words “per day of such violation ” (emphasis added) would appear to represent a clear congressional recognition — indeed, contemplation — of the fact that the violation

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Bluebook (online)
580 F. Supp. 1042, 20 ERC 1666, 14 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20533, 20 ERC (BNA) 1666, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20827, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-amoco-oil-co-mowd-1984.