RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

June 2008

To read this entire item of approximately 2000 words online now in PDF format: Click here to read this item if you are an existing subscriber to this publication. Click here to purchase the full text of this item to read now (price: $25). To subscribe to this publication and immediately access all its archives including this item, select the relevant publication under 'Catalogue' in the left-hand column PLEASE NOTE: to read PDFs on www.argento.com you must be using Version 5 of Acrobat Reader or Adobe Reader. If you have an earlier version you can download the latest free of charge by clicking here

District Court Rejects EPA’s Definition of ‘Navigable Waters’ in its 2002 Spill Prevention Control Rule
American Petroleum Institute v. Johnson, ___F.Supp.2d ___

In a consolidated action, the American Petroleum Institute and Marathon Oil Company (collectively: plaintiffs) challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA’s) definition of “navigable waters” in the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure regulations (SPCC Rule), as amended by the EPA in 2002. Plaintiffs argued that the new definition violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in that the definition was arbitrary and capricious, lacking any rational legal explanation. Plaintiffs alleged that the offensive language—the case law supports a broad definition of navigable waters, such as the one published today—failed to account for relevant recent decisions of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts that run contrary to the EPA’s definition. The resulting definition, plaintiffs’ stated, was not the product of reasoned decision-making and had to be invalidated. The court agreed with plaintiffs, holding that EPA’s definition violated the APA as the new definition was too conclusory, and was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Solid Waste Agency of N. Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159 (2001) (hereinafter SWANCC).