United States v. City of Fort Smith, Arkansas, No. 21-2127 (8th Cir. 2022)
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The district court entered a Consent Decree between the City of Fort Smith, Arkansas (the City), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with the State of Arkansas. The Consent Decree imposed various sewer system improvement requirements on the City over an initial 12-year period. The Consent Decree’s requirements generally include (1) assessing the condition of the sewer system, (2) identifying control measures to address certain defects, and (3) developing a plan to ensure adequate capacity in the sewer system. The City filed a motion for judicial resolution. The district court granted the City’s motion and issued two orders on March 19, 2021, and April 30, 2021. The City appealed those two orders, challenging the court’s ruling that certain severe structural defects had to be repaired by a date certain.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that nothing in the Consent Decree or in Appendix D explicitly indicates that the decision tree only applies to defects with Grades 1 to 3 and not to Grades 4 and 5. But assuming arguendo that it applies to all defects identified in the City’s SSA irrespective of grade, Appendix D conflicts with Paragraph 18. Paragraph 18 provides that all Grade 4 and 5 defects must be included in the RMP. Accordingly, the court affirmed the conclusion of the district court that “the Consent Decree requires the City to resolve the defects in Grade 4 and 5 manholes and sewer lines, and this cannot be accomplished solely by monitoring and maintenance analysis.”
Court Description: [Smith, Author, with Benton and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Clean Water Act. The city asked the court to resolve a dispute concerning implementation of a 2015 Consent Decree between the city, the State of Arkansas, and the U.S. in this Clean Water Act suit; under the Consent Decree, the city is obligated to remediate portions of its sewer system; the dispute here concerns the time frame for remediating certain serious structural defects - must they be repaired within four years of discovery or are they subject to an open-ended monitoring and maintenance scheme; the District Court did not err in determining the city was obligated to remedy these classes of defects within four years of their discovery. [ September 13, 2022 ]
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