CALIFORNIA SPORTFISHING PROTECTION ALLIANCE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHICO SCRAP METAL, INC.; George Scott, Sr.; George Scott, Jr.; George W. Scott, Sr., Revocable Inter Vivos Trust, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 11-16959.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
July 22, 2013.
724 F.3d 867
Argued and Submitted April 16, 2013.
Amendment.“). Absent such a clarification, Botello cannot be charged with “sufficient legal or constitutional expertise to understand what are his . . . rights under the Constitution.” San Juan-Cruz, 314 F.3d at 389 (citing Miranda, 384 U.S. at 472, 86 S.Ct. 1602).
Because the warnings administered to Botello did not reasonably convey his right to appointed counsel as required by Miranda, his subsequent statements may not be admitted as evidence against him. See Miranda, 384 U.S. at 479, 86 S.Ct. 1602. Wе therefore reverse the district court‘s denial of Botello‘s motion to suppress. Because Botello‘s guilty plea was conditioned upon the right to seek review of the adverse determination of his motion to suppress, we vacate Botello‘s conviction and remand to the district court with instructions to allow Botello to withdraw his guilty plea and for further proceedings consistent with this disposition.
REVERSED; VACATED; REMANDED.
Harold M. Thomas, Special Deputy District Attorney, Office of Butte County District Attorney, Oroville, CA, for Amicus Curiae.
Before: SUSAN P. GRABER and MORGAN CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges, and JOHN R. TUNHEIM,* District Judge.
Therese Y. Cannata, Cannata, Ching & O‘Toole LLP, San Francisco, CA, for Defendants-Appellees.
* The Honorable John R. Tunheim, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, sitting by designation.
OPINION
GRABER, Circuit Judge:
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or Clean Water Act (“the Act“),
The district court dismissed this action after ruling that
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Defendants own and operate three scrap metal recycling facilities in Butte County, California. The facilities receive scrap metal, salvage vehicles, and process other waste for recycling and disposal.
Defendants’ facilities are subject to the requirements and conditions contained in California‘s Industrial Activities Storm Water General Permit (“the Permit“), an NPDES general permit issued by the California State Water Resources Control Board (“the Board“) pursuant to its authority under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act,
In 2007, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (“the Department“) initiated an investigation of Defendants’ facilities after discovering that concrete and construction debris had been dumped in wetlands on some of Defendants’ land. The Department extended the investigation to Defendants’ three recycling fаcilities and found high levels of hazardous contamination. The Department ordered Defendants to “characterize” the extent of contamination, but Defendants did not comply.
In 2007 and 2008, the Butte County district attorney filed civil and criminal actions against Defendants, alleging numerous violations of state environmental and occupational safety laws. The civil complaint alleged that Defendants were liable under various state laws for “unlawfully stor[ing], transport[ing,] and dispos[ing] of hazardous waste.” Specifically, the state asserted claims under California‘s Health and Safety Code, sections
In October 2008, Defendants entered into a plea agreement that resolved both the civil and the criminal proceedings. The agreement provided that Defendants would pay fines and serve a term of probation. Among other things, the agreement required Defendants to abide by three remedial action consent orders that the Department had issued during the previous month. Among other requirements, the consent orders required Defendants to clean up hazardous substances detected at the three facilities and to reduce potential human exposure to those substances. The plea agreement allowed Defendant Chico Scrap Metal to continue operating the facilities during the probation term so as to generate revenue to pay for the cleanups.
In January 2010, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA“) inspected Defendants’ three facilities and found that the sites’ storm water management systems failed to comply with the Permit. In March, Plaintiff sent Defendants, as well as state and federal agencies, notice of its intent to sue Defendants under the Act for violations of the Permit. The notices alleged ongoing violations of the storm water permit at Defendants’ three facilities. Neither state nor federal officials commenced any enforcement proceedings under the Act after receiving the notices.
In May 2010, Plaintiff filed this action. The complaint alleges violations of provisions of the Permit that (1) prohibit discharges of polluted storm water, (2) require preparation of a “Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan,” (3) require the use of certain pollution control technologies for storm water discharges, and (4) require implementation of a storm water monitoring and reporting program.
In June 2010, the California Water Quality Control Board issued notices to Defendants that they were in violation of the Permit, citing the January 2010 inspections. The notices requested that Defendants submit a report describing how the violations were being addressed.
Defendants then moved to dismiss this action, arguing that Plaintiff‘s claims were barred by one of the Act‘s “diligent prosecution” bars,
Plaintiff timely appeals.
DISCUSSION3
The Act allows citizens to enforce its standards.
A. Section 1365(b)(1)(B)
The first “diligent prosecution” bar at issue is contained within the same statutory section that authorizes citizen suits to enforce the Act,
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and [
33 U.S.C. § 1319(g)(6) ], any citizen may commence a civil action on his own behalf—(1) against any person . . . who is alleged to be in violation of (A) an effluent standard or limitation under this [Act] or (B) an order issued by the [EPA] or a State with resрect to such a standard or limitation. . . .
(b) No [citizen suit under
§ 1365(a)(1) ] may be commenced—(1) . . . .
(B) if [a state or federal authority] has commenced and is diligently prosecuting a civil or criminal action in a court of the United States, or a State to require compliance with the standard, limitation, or order. . . .
Our prior decisions clarify two points with respect to the interpretation of
But we have not previously considered what kinds of enforcement actions constitute ones “to require compliance” for purposes of the
Defendants argue that, to trigger the
Our conclusion follows not only from the statute‘s text, but also from consideration of the odd consequences that would result from reading
In this action, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants have violated four conditions of the Permit. We therefore must determine whether the government‘s enforcement action sought compliance with the same Clean Water Act standard: that is,
The pleadings and briefs in the 2007 and 2008 actions show that the state sought relief for alleged violations of California‘s air quality laws,
The plea agreement and probation order that concluded the proceedings in state court confirm that compliance with the Clean Water Act was not a subject of those actions. The plea agreement purported to settle only the state‘s claims that were asserted in the complaints, as amended, which it described as allegations of “dumping of hazardous industrial waste,” “endangering the health of employees,” and “various hazardous material, waste, and air quality violations.” The agreement provided that the state would dismiss some counts and that Defendants would plead no contest to the counts that were not dismissed. The agreement contains no reference to storm water discharges, and none of the counts alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, either as originally stated or as amended.
The scope оf the probation order is likewise limited to the government‘s allegations, as amended. The order lists the fines and fees that correspond to each state-law violation to which Defendants pleaded no contest; none of those penalties is listed as arising from violations of the Clean Water Act. Although the probation order contains a general requirement that Defendants “[o]bey all laws,” that boilerplate provision merely requires that Defendants abide by the law as a condition of probation. It did not transform the action into one to enforce the Clean Water Act.
Defendants argue that the 2007 and 2008 actions nonetheless trigger the
The 2008 consent orders themselves do not trigger
Moreover, the state court considered the Permit requirements mentioned in the 2008 consent orders only to the extent that it mаde compliance with them a condition of Defendants’ probation. Like the “obey all laws” provision, that condition merely requires Defendants to abide by legal obligations other than those that the parties litigated before the court. It does not transform the 2007 and 2008 actions into ones to require compliance with the Clean Water Act.7
We need not, and do not, decide whether a different result would obtain had the court conditioned Defendants’ probation on compliаnce with orders that did seek to enforce the Clean Water Act—such as one issued by the Board under its NPDES enforcement authority. Here, the 2008 consent orders expressly intend to mitigate human risks of on-site exposure through skin contact, inhalation of fumes, and ingestion of dust. They do not refer to effluent limitations or to the discharge of pollution into navigable waters, which is the concern of the Clean Water Act, see
In sum, bеcause the 2007 and 2008 proceedings aimed to enforce only laws other than the Clean Water Act,
B. Section 1319(g)(6)(A)(ii)
The second statutory bar at issue,
Defendants argue that
Nor do the 2008 consent orders trigger
Because California has commenced no administrative penalty proceeding that is
CONCLUSION
Because the state has brought neither a court action to require compliance with the Clean Water Act nor an administrative penalty action comparable to one under the Act, neither
REVERSED and REMANDED.
