United States Tenth Circuit

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is ambiguous on the issue, thus the court defers to the EPA's reasonable interpretation that RCRA allows EPA "overfiling" after a state has been authorized to run its own hazardous waste program and initiates its own enforcement action.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/04/2002
• Published 09/04/2002

Judges

• TACHA, Chief Circuit Judge., Before TACHA, Chief Circuit Judge, BALDOCK, and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John F. McBride (Robert T. McAllister of Robert T. McAllister, P.C., Denver, CO, with him on the briefs), Denver, CO, appearing for Appellant., G. Steven Rowe, Attorney General, and John H. Edwards, Assistant Attorney General, Natural Resources Division, State of Maine, Department of the Attorney General, Augusta, ME;  Mark Pryor, Attorney General, State of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR;  Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, State of California, San Diego, CA;  Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General, State of Connecticut, Hartford, CT;  James E. Ryan, Attorney General, State of Illinois, Chicago, IL;  Mike McGrath, Attorney General, State of Montana, Helena, MT;  Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General, State of New York, New York, NY;  William H. Sorrell, Attorney General, State of Vermont, Montpelier, VT;  and Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General, State of West Virginia, Charleston, WV, filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the United States Environmental Protection Agency., Scott M. DuBoff, Wright & Talisman, P.C., Washington, DC;  Thomas M. Sneeringer, Washington, DC, Counsel for American Iron and Steel Institute;  G. William Frick and Ralph J. Colleli, Jr., Washington, DC, Counsel for American Petroleum Institute;  Stephan A. Bokat and Robin S. Conrad, National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc., Washington, DC, Counsel for Chamber of Commerce of the United States;  James Barnett, Kerr, Irvine, Rhodes & Ables, Oklahoma City, OK, Counsel for Environmental Federation of Oklahoma;  Frederick R. Damm, Clark Hill, P.L.C., Detroit, MI, Counsel for Michigan Manufacturers Association;  Jan Amundson, Washington, DC, Counsel for National Association of Manufacturers;  Gregory McClintock and Brian Wall, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Los Angeles, CA, Counsel for Western States Petroleum Association, filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Appellants Power Engineering Company, et al.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert H. Oakley, Attorney, Department of Justice, Washington, DC (John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Environment & Natural Resources Division, John W. Suthers, United States Attorney, John A. Bryson and John N. Moscato, Attorneys, Department of Justice, Washington, DC;  and Stephen D. Taylor, Assistant United States Attorney, and Thomas Sitz, Office of Enforcement, Compliance and Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection Agency, Denver, CO, with him on the brief), appearing for Appellee.