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Administrative Law Keyed to Lawson
Puerto Rico Sun Oil Co. v. United States EPA
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- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
- Topic: Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.
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- Facts: What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case. Review the Facts of this case here:
The Act prohibits the discharge of any pollutant into protected waters unless a discharge permit has been secured from the EPA, with the additional consent of the state in which the discharge will occur. Puerto Rico is considered a “state” within the Act, and its local agency is the Environmental Quality Board (EQB). The Act allowed states to impose more stringent laws than the federal law requires, which then become incorporated into the federal permit. Puerto Rico Sun Oil Company (Company) held a discharge permit for its oil refinery in Puerto Rico, and submitted a renewal request to the EPA. The EPA forwarded it to EQB with a 60-day deadline. The EQB released a tentative certification that excluded the “mixing zone” in the company’s earlier permit. Meanwhile, EQB was working on revised mixing zone regulations. Four days after promulgating its final mixing zone regulation, it issued the final certification in this case, sans the mixing zone provision. The EPA then rushed to issue a final permit before EQB’s certification could be revised, even though both the Company and EQB made it clear that reconsideration was under way. The Company would have been unable to operate its refinery if the permit limitations were applied, without a mixing zone analysis.
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