Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment

Background

An environmental association sued a small Chicago manufacturing company after discovering the company had not filed required Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA) inventory and toxic-release reports on time beginning in 1988. The group gave the required 60-day notice; the company then filed the overdue forms and the EPA declined to pursue enforcement. The group sued in federal court seeking penalties, access to records, and costs.

Reasoning

The Court focused on Article III standing and whether the group’s requested relief would actually fix the harm it alleged. The Court assumed, without deciding, that the statute might reach past violations but found that the remedies sought would not redress the group’s injury: civil penalties go to the U.S. Treasury, injunctive relief would only prevent future violations and the complaint alleged only past failures, and the statute’s fee provision covers litigation costs only. Because none of the ordered remedies would reimburse or otherwise remedy the group’s asserted past injury, the Court concluded the group lacked standing and federal courts lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

Real world impact

The Court vacated the lower-court judgment and instructed dismissal of the complaint. The ruling means citizen plaintiffs must show ongoing or imminent harm (or be given a remedy that benefits them directly) to bring federal EPCRA claims, and it leaves enforcement primarily to EPA, states, or to suits where a plaintiff can demonstrate redressable injury.

Dissents or concurrances

Several Justices agreed with dismissal but differed on approach: some would decide the statute first and hold that EPCRA does not authorize suits for wholly past violations.