HYDROPRESS ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC., Appellee v. TOWNSHIP OF UPPER MOUNT BETHEL, COUNTY OF NORTHAMPTON, Appellant.
836 A.2d 912
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Decided Nov. 25, 2003.
Argued April 8, 2003.
Tracy Lynn Updike, Thomas L. Wenger, for PA State Ass‘n of Tp. Sup‘rs., Appellant Amicus Curiae.
Craig Prescott Wilson, Harrisburg, Catherine A. Trinkle, Pro Hac Vice, Newark, NJ, Brian S. Montag, Pro Hac Vice, Morristown, NJ, Robert T. Weston, for Hydropress Environmental Services, Inc., Appellee.
Alexandria Makosky, John William Carroll, for PA Chamber of Business & Industry, Appellee Amicus Curiae.
Paul Martin Schmidt, David J. Brooman, for PA Waste Industries Ass‘n, Appellee Amicus Curiae.
Eugene E. Dice, for PA Septage Mgmt. Ass‘n, Appellee Amicus Curiae.
Before: CAPPY, C.J., and CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN and LAMB, JJ.
OPINION ANNOUNCING THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
Justice LAMB.
We granted discretionary review sought by the Township of Upper Mount Bethel, County of Northampton (Township) of the Order of the Commonwealth Court affirming the trial court‘s grant of summary judgment in favor of Hydropress Environmental Services, Inc. (Hydropress), which, on November 27, 2000, filed an action for declaratory judgment asking the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County to enter an order declaring Township Ordinance 2001-01(Ordinance) invalid, permanently enjoining the Township from enforcing the Ordinance, and declaring that Hydropress is legally entitled to resume its operations in the Township without having to comply with the requirements of the Ordinance. This appeal presents three issues: whether Hydropress has standing to challenge the Ordinance, whether the Solid Waste Management Act1 (SWMA) preempts the Ordinance, and whether the Ordinance is a valid exercise of the police powers under the Second Class Township Code.2 For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.
Hydropress, a New Jersey corporation authorized to conduct business in Pennsylvania, is in the business of processing municipal sludge and residuals into products known as biosolids, which it does primarily at its facility in Phillipsburg, New
The Township, a township of the second class, is primarily rural, with thousands of acres presently utilized for agricultural purposes, and still has a considerable number of dirt roads and unimproved lanes that are used for access. In October of 2000, the Township enacted ordinance No. 2000-04, which was revised and reenacted as Ordinance No. 2001-01 on February 12, 2001.4 The Ordinance is entitled “Ordinance for Agricultural Utilization or Other Land Application of Biosolids, Sludge, Septage, or other Waste Material.”
Hydropress alleged in its declaratory judgment action that the Ordinance is illegal because the General Assembly has, by enacting the SWMA, preempted all local regulation of the land application of sludge-derived products, and that the nature of the solid waste industry demands uniform statewide regulation. Additionally, Hydropress‘s declaratory judgment action challenged the Ordinance‘s requirement, found at Section 4(c)(1), that the cost of improvements to any Township road
The Township filed preliminary objections to Hydropress‘s complaint in which it asserted that because Hydropress was
The trial court determined that the requirements of Ordinance Sections 4(c)(1) and 7 are beyond the Township‘s power to enact because the requirements there contained impose standards greatly in excess of those necessary to protect the general welfare. Trial Ct. slip op., May 30, 2001, at 10. In addition, the trial court determined that local regulation of the land application of waste material such as biosolids, septage or sewage sludge is preempted by the SWMA. Having concluded as a matter of law that the Ordinance goes beyond the Township‘s power to enact and that the Legislature had preempted the field, the trial court granted Hydropress‘s7 motion for summary judgment. Trial Ct. slip op., May 30,
The first issue before this Court is whether Hydropress had standing to challenge the Ordinance. As this Court explained in William Penn Parking Garage, Inc. v. City of Pittsburgh, 464 Pa. 168, 346 A.2d 269 (1975), the principle of standing is that where a person is not adversely affected in any way by the matter which he seeks to challenge, he is not aggrieved and thus has no standing to obtain a judicial resolution of that challenge. 346 A.2d at 280; see also Nye v. Erie Insurance Exchange, 504 Pa. 3, 470 A.2d 98, 100 (1983). This court also noted in William Penn that “it is not sufficient for the person claiming to be ‘aggrieved’ to assert the common interest of all citizens in procuring obedience to the law” but that in order to be aggrieved, a party must show that it has a substantial, direct and immediate interest in the claim sought to be litigated. William Penn, 346 A.2d at 280-83. In South Whitehall Township Police Service v. South Whitehall Township, 521 Pa. 82, 555 A.2d 793 (1989), we further explained that:
A “substantial” interest is an interest in the outcome of the litigation which surpasses the common interest of all citizens in procuring obedience to the law. A “direct” interest requires a showing that the matter complained of caused harm to the party‘s interest. An “immediate” interest involves the nature of the causal connection between the action complained of and the injury to the party challenging it, and is shown where the interest the party seeks to protect is within the zone of interests sought to be protected by the statute or constitutional guarantee in question.
555 A.2d at 795 (citations omitted).
The Township argues that because Hydropress was suspended from conducting its operations in Pennsylvania gener-
The trial court held, as affirmed by the Commonwealth Court, that the interim agreement between Hydropress and PADEP, permitting Hydropress to operate within the Commonwealth, gave Hydropress the right to seek permission to operate within the Township and that the deprivation of that right constituted a direct, immediate, and substantial harm as a result of the Ordinance. Trial Ct. slip op., February 13, 2001, at 4. In addition to the fact that Hydropress had applied to PADEP to conduct demonstration projects in the Township, we note that the Ordinance does not require that a party receive a permit from PADEP before receiving a permit from the Township. Instead, the Ordinance only requires that a permit be obtained from PADEP prior to the onset of site application. See Ordinance Section 4(a), R14.8 Therefore, the Township‘s reliance on PADEP approval as a prerequisite to
At the time of the filing of the declaratory judgment action, Hydropress was in a position to apply to the Township for a permit to conduct operations that constituted Hydropress‘s regular business activity. Therefore, Hydropress‘s interest in the matters regulated by the Ordinance is substantial in that it surpasses the common interest of citizens generally. Hydropress‘s interest is direct because Hydropress has shown that the imposition of the requirements of the Ordinance could cause harm to Hydropress‘s interest in conducting its lawful business activity by, according to Hydropress‘s argument, imposing regulations in a field that has been preempted by the SWMA, or that goes beyond the Township‘s police power. Further, Hydropress‘s interest is immediate because Hydropress has shown that there is a causal connection between the passing of the Ordinance, and the injury to Hydropress, which in this case is its exposure to an ordinance that is allegedly preempted by the SWMA or outside of the realm of the Township‘s police power. In Empire Sanitary Landfill, Inc. v. Com., Dept. of Environmental Resources, 546 Pa. 315, 684 A.2d 1047 (1996), this Court held that a waste hauler and landfill permitted by the department had standing to challenge Lehigh County‘s solid waste management flow control ordinance, which required that all solid waste within the county be deposited only at designated facilities, even though the landfill had never applied to be a designated facility under the ordinance. As we explained in that case:
It is argued that the Commonwealth Court erred in so ruling because the parties raising the issue lack standing. While the record reveals that the appellants, both in-state residents, failed to make requisite application to be designated, it can not be said that they have no stake in the outcome for if the Ordinance is declared unconstitutional, then it is “business as usual” for them.
Since we have determined that the Commonwealth Court was correct in concluding that Hydropress had standing to challenge the Ordinance, we next turn to the Township‘s claim that the Commonwealth Court erred in affirming the trial court‘s grant of summary judgment on the ground of preemption. In a declaratory judgment action, just as in civil actions generally, “[s]ummary judgment may be granted only in those cases in which the record clearly shows that there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Harleysville Insurance Companies v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Insurance Company, 568 Pa. 255, 795 A.2d 383, 385 (2002) (citing P.J.S. v. Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, 555 Pa. 149, 723 A.2d 174, 176 (1999)). A trial court‘s order granting summary judgment will not be reversed unless it is established that the court committed an error of law or clearly abused its discretion. Id.; see also, Cochran v. GAF Corporation, 542 Pa. 210, 666 A.2d 245, 248 (1995).
As a general matter, the state is not presumed to have preempted a field merely by legislating in it. The Legislature must clearly express its intent to preempt a field in which it has legislated. The test for preemption in this Commonwealth is well established. Either the statute must state on its face that local legislation is forbidden, or “indicate[] an intention on the part of the legislature that it should not be supplemented by municipal bodies.” Western Pennsylvania Restaurant Association v. Pittsburgh, 366 Pa. 374, 77 A.2d 616, 620 (1951). The consequence of a determination of preemption is severe. “If the General Assembly has preempted a field, the state has retained all regulatory and legislative power for itself and no local legislation in that area is permitted.” Council of Middletown Tp., Delaware County v. Benham, 514 Pa. 176, 523 A.2d 311, 313 (1987). Recognizing the
In Benham, we concluded that local regulation was not preempted by the Sewage Facilities Act, the Act of January 24, 1966, P.L. 1535 (1965), as amended,
The same considerations require us to conclude that preemption was not intended in this case. The SWMA contains no express preemptive mandate. Just to the contrary, the primary legislative statement of the purposes of the SWMA, contained in
We must, therefore, turn to the issue of the Township‘s authority generally to enact the regulations here at issue. We find specifically that the ordinance in question exceeds the police power of the Township. In that regard:
it is well settled that townships, political subdivisions of the Commonwealth, possess only such powers as have been granted to them by the legislature, either in express terms or which arise by necessary and fair implication or are incident to powers expressly granted or are essential to the declared objects and purposes of the townships....
Commonwealth v. Ashenfelder, 413 Pa. 517, 198 A.2d 514, 515-16 (1964). In Ashenfelder, we rejected the argument that the Second Class Township Code delegated “the ‘widest possible powers to the Township Supervisors for the purpose of allowing them to take whatever appropriate measure might be necessary for securing the safety of persons or property within the Township‘“. Id. at 516 (quoting the municipality‘s written argument to the Court). We held that the language of the Code and, particularly, the general grant of power contained in Section 702 thereof, codified at
In support of its power to enact the regulations in question, the Township points only to its delegated power under the Second Class Township Code and under the Vehicle Code to keep its public roads in good repair and free of obstructions. These specific powers do not encompass the challenged requirements. The Township has been expressly delegated the
Moreover, SWMA
Justice CASTILLE files a concurring and dissenting opinion in which Justice SAYLOR and Justice EAKIN join.
Justice NEWMAN files a dissenting opinion.
Justice CASTILLE concurring and dissenting.
I join the Lead Opinion insofar as it concludes that appellee had standing to pursue the declaratory judgment action. On the merits, however, I find myself in partial dissent, as I would affirm the order below outright on grounds of preemption.
After careful consideration of the matter, including the briefs of the various amici, it is my view that the courts below correctly recognized that the pervasive state regulation in this specialized area, embodied in and authorized by the Solid Waste Management Act (SWMA),
As this Court noted in Western Pennsylvania Restaurant Ass‘n v. Pittsburgh, 366 Pa. 374, 77 A.2d 616 (1951), when “the general tenor of [a] statute indicates an intention on the part of the legislature that it should not be supplemented by municipal bodies, that intention must be given effect and the attempted legislation held invalid.” Id. at 620 (citations omitted). In my view, even absent an express statement from the General Assembly, the pervasive state regulation of the specialized field here, and the absence of any delegated authority to local government to co-occupy the field, makes plain a legislative intent not to permit supplemental municipal regulation.1
I should also note that I do not disagree with the lead opinion‘s analysis of the alternative question of whether the Ordinance exceeds the general police authority reserved to Townships of the Second Class. But, in my mind, this is the inevitable reverse side of the preemption argument: i.e., had any such power been delegated to such a unit of local government, the preemption argument necessarily would fail. The important question presented here is one which I would resolve on a state-wide basis, without inviting a municipality-by-municipality inquiry into the otherwise-delegated powers reserved to the various forms of local government recognized
As I would affirm the order below outright, I join only in that portion of the mandate which affirms.
Justices SAYLOR and EAKIN join this concurring and dissenting opinion.
Justice NEWMAN dissenting.
I respectfully dissent, as I do not believe that Hydropress Environmental Services, Inc., (Hydropress) had standing to pursue the present declaratory judgment action.
“A party seeking judicial resolution of a controversy in this Commonwealth must, as a prerequisite, establish that he has standing to maintain the action.” Bergdoll v. Kane, 557 Pa. 72, 731 A.2d 1261, 1268 (1999) (quoting Nye v. Erie Insurance Exchange, 504 Pa. 3, 470 A.2d 98, 100 (1983) (emphasis supplied)). “The question of standing is rooted in the notion that for a party to maintain a challenge to an official order or action, he must be aggrieved in that his rights have been invaded or infringed.” Franklin Twp. v. Com., Dept. of Environmental Resources, 500 Pa. 1, 452 A.2d 718, 719 (1982). We have repeatedly observed and held that to possess standing, “a party must (a) have a substantial interest in the subject-matter of the litigation; (b) the interest must be direct; and (c) the interest must be immediate and not a remote consequence.” Id.; see also Bergdoll, 731 A.2d at 1268; William Penn Parking Garage v. City of Pittsburgh, 464 Pa. 168, 346 A.2d 269 (1975) (plurality opinion).
“[T]he requirement of a ‘substantial’ interest simply means that the individual‘s interest must have substance--there must be some discernible adverse effect to some interest other than the abstract interest of all citizens in having others comply with the law.” William Penn, 346 A.2d at 282; see also South Whitehall Twp. Police Service v. South Whitehall Twp., 521 Pa. 82, 555 A.2d 793 (1989). The second, “direct” prerequisite “simply means that the person claiming to be aggrieved must show causation of the harm to his interest by the matter of which he complains.” William Penn, 346 A.2d at 282. Finally, the “immediate” element of the analysis “concern[s]... the nature of the causal connection between the action complained of and the injury to the person challenging it.” Id. at 283.
Presently, Hydropress alleges that its right to apply biosolids within Upper Mt. Bethel Township (Township) is being restricted by Township Ordinance 2001-01 (Ordinance). However, as acknowledged by the litigants, even without the Ordinance, Hydropress could not have applied biosolids within the Township, without first seeking and obtaining permission to do so from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Thus, the interest asserted by Hydropress was not affected by the Ordinance. Instead, it was the agreement reached between DEP and Hydropress that restricted the ability of Hydropress to conduct business within the Township. Accordingly, Hydropress cannot satisfy the “direct” or the “immediate” elements of the standing analysis.
In its brief to this Court, Hydropress all but concedes that it has not submitted any applications with DEP seeking permits to apply biosolids within the Township.1 Clearly, if Hydropress could not operate within the Commonwealth without first obtaining a permit from DEP and Hydropress did not even submit an application to receive approval by DEP at the time it challenged the Ordinance, Hydropress did not have the permission of DEP to operate within the Township at that time.2 Thus, the Ordinance did not directly cause any harm to Hydropress.
When the trial court issued its opinion, Hydropress was “currently preparing application packages to be submitted for [DEP‘s] review and approval of locations [within the Township].” In other words, Hydropress had not even completed an application to obtain DEP approval to operate within the Township. Thus, the “immediate” cause of the inability of Hydropress to conduct business within the Township is the failure of Hydropress, itself, to complete an application to submit to DEP. If Hydropress fails to complete the application, or submit it to DEP, [the] Ordinance ... will never become the “immediate” cause of the inability of Hydropress to conduct business within the Township. At some point in the future, after Hydropress has completed an application and submitted it to DEP and after DEP has reviewed and approved the application, [the] Ordinance ... may become the “immediate” cause of the inability of Hydropress to operate within the Township. At the present time, however, it seems to me that the causal connection between the inability of Hydropress to operate within the Township and [the] Ordinance ... is too remote.
Hydropress Environmental Serv., Inc. v. Twp. of Upper Mt. Bethel, No. 1436 CD 2001, pp. 3-4 (Pa.Cmwlth. March 7, 2002)
Further, as cited by the Majority, the trial court found that “the interim agreement between Hydropress and DEP ... gave Hydropress the right to seek permission to operate within the Township.” Majority Opinion, p. 487, 836 A.2d p. 917. Thus, the trial court did not find that the agreement gave Hydropress the right to operate, which is, in my opinion, what is necessary to have a “direct” and an “immediate” interest to have standing in the present case. Simply, I do not view having the right to seek permission to do something on the same footing as being actually permitted to do it. Accordingly, unlike the Majority, I do not perceive the trial court‘s holding as an impediment to my conclusion that Hydropress did not have standing to challenge the Ordinance.3 On the contrary, the finding that the agreement with DEP gave Hydropress the mere right to seek permission to operate within the Township, as opposed to the unfettered right to operate, only serves to reinforce my conclusion that the interest of Hydropress was not “direct” or “immediate,” because it did not have the right to operate within the Township at the time it challenged the Ordinance. This analysis does not vary because the Ordinance “does not require that a party receive a permit from DEP before receiving a permit from the Township,” see Majority Opinion, p. 487-88, 836 A.2d p. 917, since this observation does not obviate the fact that, irrespective of the requirements set forth in the Ordinance, Hydropress cannot apply biosolids within the Township without first obtaining a DEP permit.
Finally, unlike the Majority, I view Empire Sanitary Landfill, Inc. v. Com., Dept. of Environmental Resources, 546 Pa. 315, 684 A.2d 1047 (1996), as wholly inapposite to the present situation. In Empire, a county waste management plan designated three landfills for waste disposal and required all municipal waste to be disposed of at one of these designated disposal facilities. 684 A.2d at 1051. An operator of a non-designated waste disposal site and a trash hauler, who contracted to dispose its waste at that site, challenged the county‘s waste disposal plan. Id. at 1051-53. In rejecting an argument that the challengers had no standing, this Court commented that the parties, in fact, had standing, “for if the [waste management plan] is declared unconstitutional, then it is ‘business as usual’ for them” or, in other words, that the trash hauler could return to delivering municipal waste to the non-designated waste disposal site. Id. at 1057 n. 15.
This is not what is taking place in the instant matters. Even if the Ordinance was found to be invalid, Hydropress still does not have the right to apply biosolids within the Township, without a permit from the DEP. Thus, even without the Ordinance, Hydropress cannot conduct “business as usual.”
Accordingly, I would find that Hydropress did not have standing to challenge the Ordinance and would reverse the Commonwealth Court on this ground without addressing the substantive issues raised by the parties.