United States v. United States Steel Corp.

No. 79-709 (W.D. Pa. September 13, 1983)

ELR Digest

The court declines to modify a consent decree in a Clean Air Act enforcement case to exclude a private intervenor from certain notice provisions. The court first holds that the consent decree was not modified by an amendment to the Clean Air Act in 1981 which provided that a diversion of capital from pollution control areas to modernization efforts may be allowed. The court has the power to modify consent decrees, and should take into account significant changes in circumstances that may include changes in the statutory law, but must also consider all objections to a proposed modification. Here, the 1981 amendment does represent a change in circumstances, but it does not absolutely require a modification. The modification is consistent with the amendment, however, and normally would be approved.

Turning to the objections submitted by the private intervenor, the steelworkers' union local, the court concludes that two of them have merit and that it cannot approve the modification unless it is revised to take these concerns into account. All the union's objections center around distinctions made in the modification with respect to notice between governmental and other intervenors, which the union argues is inconsistent with the court's earlier determination that the union was to be treated as any other intervenor. The court rejects objections concerning the right to receive notice prior to the conducting of certain tests and to enter the premises of the company in order to monitor compliance with the consent decree. The governmental entities are directly responsible for ensuring the performance of the tests and compliance with the decree; the union is not burdened or directly affected. The court rules, however, that the union is entitled to notice of temporary shutdowns. The modification would have denied such notice and allowed the manufacturer to postpone the installation of pollution control equipment in any source which it temporarily shuts down prior to having achieved compliance. Clearly a shutdown, with loss of jobs, may directly affect the union's membership. Finally, the court partially agrees with the union's objection to a paragraph that provides that U.S. Steel shall demonstrate compliance in a reopened source within certain time limits unless EPA and the governmental intervenors agree otherwise, and rules the union is entitled to notice of negotiations on such matters. A decision on the waiver of compliance time limits could directly affect the union's membership. The court denies the union's request that it be allowed to actually participate in all negotiations.

The full text of the opinion is available from ELR (6 pp., $2.00, ELR Order No. C-1342).

Counsel for Plaintiff
Margaret M. Cardamone
Environmental Protection Agency
Curtis Bldg., Philadelphia PA 19106
(215) 597-9814

Craig McKay, Ass't U.S. Attorney
633 U.S. Post Office & Cthse.
7th Ave. & Grant St., Pittsburgh PA 15219
(412) 722-3500

George D. Lawrence Jr.
Land and Natural Resources Division
Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 633-5271

Counsel for Defendant
Blair S. McMillan, Arthur H. Stroyd, Dorothy A. Servis
Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay
Two Mellon Ctr., P.O. Box 2009, Pittsburgh PA 15230
(412) 288-3131

(Bloch, J.)

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]