Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment v. Kennecott Utah Copper, LLC

191 F. Supp. 3d 1287, 46 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20107, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75349, 2016 WL 3199478
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedJune 8, 2016
DocketCase No. 2:11-CV-01181
StatusPublished

This text of 191 F. Supp. 3d 1287 (Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment v. Kennecott Utah Copper, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment v. Kennecott Utah Copper, LLC, 191 F. Supp. 3d 1287, 46 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20107, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75349, 2016 WL 3199478 (D. Utah 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

ROBERT J. SHELBY, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, WildEarth Guardians, Utah Moms for Clean Air, and Sierra Club (Citizen Groups) filed this citizen suit alleging that Defendant Kennecott Utah Copper, LLC has violated the Clean Air Act (CAA).1 Citizen Groups and Kennecott both moved for summary judgment.2 Because the court concludes that Kennecott [1290]*1290has complied with the unambiguous plain language of the controlling federal regulation, the court grants Kennecott’s Motion for Summary Judgment and denies Citizen Groups’ Motion for Summary Judgment.

BACKGROUND

At its core, this case is about the legal interpretation of a federal regulation enacted pursuant to the CAA to limit the production of certain pollutants into the air in Salt Lake County. The CAA regulates air quality in the United States through a federal-state partnership.3 The Environmental Protection Agency develops National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for each criteria pollutant, of which there are currently six.4 One of the criteria pollutants regulated by EPA is particulate matter, in two particle size ranges: PM10—less than 10 microns in diameter but greater than 2.5 microns in diameter; and PM25—equal to or less than 2.5 microns in diameter.5

EPA sets the NAAQS at levels necessary to protect public health and welfare.6 Once EPA promulgates these standards, the states are responsible for ensuring that pollution does not exceed them.7 Each state is divided geographically into air quality control regions.8 With input from the states, EPA issues formal designations on whether each air quality control region meets the NAAQS.9 Air quality control regions that meet the NAAQS for a given pollutant are designated attainment areas, while air quality control regions that do not are designated nonattainment areas.10

States are required to adopt State Implementation Plans (SIPs) detailing methods each state will use to attain and maintain the NAAQS in each air quality control region.11 SIPs must “include enforceable emission limitations and other control measures, means, or techniques ... as may be necessary or appropriate to meet the applicable requirements” of the CAA.12 States submit the SIPs to EPA, which reviews the plans to determine if they meet the requirements of the CAA.13 If a SIP satisfies the applicable requirements, EPA must approve it.14

Once EPA approves a SIP, it becomes federal law enforceable in appropriate circumstances by the promulgating state, EPA, and interested individuals.15 “EPA may require a state to alter an approved SIP if it finds, through notice- and-comment rulemaking, that the SIP ‘is substantially inadequate to attain or maintain the relevant [NAAQS] ... or to otherwise comply with any requirement of [the [1291]*1291CAA].’ ”16 If EPA finds that an approved SIP is substantially inadequate, it can require the relevant state to revise the SIP by issuing a SIP call.17 If the state fails to revise the SIP, EPA can assume control over the implementation of the CAA in the state. EPA can also issue a SIP correction if it decides that it erred in approving a provision in a SIP.18

Citizens also have several routes under the CAA to challenge a SIP or call for its implementation. Through Section 307 of the CAA citizens can challenge both EPA’s decision to approve a SIP, as well as the content of the SIP itself.19 Citizens must file Section 307 challenges within 60 days of EPA’s final SIP approval. Jurisdiction over these challenges rests with the appropriate federal court of appeals.20 Citizens can also allege a violation of an emission standard or limitation in a SIP under Section 304(a) of the CAA.21 Federal district courts have jurisdiction over these types of challenges. Section 304(a)(2) also permits citizens to attempt to force EPA to make a SIP call by claiming that EPA failed to perform a non-discretionary act.22

The dispute in this case involves the interpretation of the PM10 SIP for the Salt Lake County air quality control region, which EPA approved in 1994.23 Citizen Groups bring a Section 304(a) challenge under the CAA, alleging Kennecott is in violation of the 1994 PM10 SIP as written. The 1994 PM10 SIP regulates Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine, which is located in the Salt Lake County nonattainment area, as a stationary source of air pollution.24 The Mine is included in the SIP because it generates a significant amount of particulate pollution through the movement of material during the mining process. A provision in the SIP limits the total amount-of material that Kennecott may move at the Mine within each 12-month period in order to limit particulate pollution. Referencing the Utah Air Conservation Regulations (UACR), the SIP provides, “Total, material moved (ore and waste) shall not exceed 150,500,000 tons per 12-month period without prior approval in accordance with Section 3.1, UACR.”25 The SIP incorporates the referenced UACR.26

Since 1994, Kennecott has twice sought and received Approval Orders from the State of Utah in accordance with Section 3.1 of the UACR. These Approval Orders authorized increases in the limitation on the total amount of material Kennecott may move at the Mine.27 In 1999, the State approved an increase in the material moved limit to 197 million tons per year; and in 2011, the State increased the limit to 260 million tons per year.28 Relying on these Approval Orders, Kennecott has exceeded every year since 2006 the ■ 150.5 million tons per year material moved limitation in ¡the 1994 PM10 SIP.29 Kennecott, [1292]*1292however, has only increased its material moved after first securing approval from the State, and has not exceeded either the 197 million ton per year limit specified in the 1999 Approval Order or the 260 million ton per year limit specified in the 2011 Approval Order.30

.SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD,

-Summary judgment -is- appropriate when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”31 In determining whether there is a genuine issue of fact, the court “view[s] the evidence and make[s] all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.”32 In the present case, which turns on the legal interpretation of a regulatory provision, the facts are not in dispute in any relevant respect.

ANALYSIS

In their cross motions for summary judgment, the Parties disagree about the meaning of the material moved provision of the 1994 PM10 SIP for Salt Lake County. The provision reads:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections v. Yeskey
524 U.S. 206 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Christensen v. Harris County
529 U.S. 576 (Supreme Court, 2000)
Sierra Club v. El Paso Gold Mines, Inc.
421 F.3d 1133 (Tenth Circuit, 2005)
Northern Natural Gas Co. v. Nash Oil & Gas, Inc.
526 F.3d 626 (Tenth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Cinergy Corp.
623 F.3d 455 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
Taniguchi v. Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd.
132 S. Ct. 1997 (Supreme Court, 2012)
Elwell v. Oklahoma, Ex Rel. Board of Regents
693 F.3d 1303 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
Sebelius v. Cloer
133 S. Ct. 1886 (Supreme Court, 2013)
United States v. General Motors Corp.
702 F. Supp. 133 (N.D. Texas, 1988)
National Parks Conservation Ass'n v. Tennessee Valley Authority
175 F. Supp. 2d 1071 (E.D. Tennessee, 2001)
Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club v. Air Quality Board
2009 UT 76 (Utah Supreme Court, 2009)
Dalzell v. RP Steamboat Springs, LLC
781 F.3d 1201 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
191 F. Supp. 3d 1287, 46 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20107, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75349, 2016 WL 3199478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/utah-physicians-for-a-healthy-environment-v-kennecott-utah-copper-llc-utd-2016.