The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has held that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR, now referred to as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)) may not be sued under the citizen suit provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) because the 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution bars federal jurisdiction in RCRA citizen suits against a state agency defendant.
The Plaintiff, Roy R. Rowlands (Rowlands) sued MDNR under the citizen suit provision of RCRA for injunctive, declaratory and other relief. The RCRA citizen suit provision creates a cause of action for violations of RCRA or for conditions presenting an "imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment." Rowlands lived near the Pointe Mouillee Shooting Club, which leased property from MDNR for use as a shooting range. The range had been identified by MDNR as an "environmentally impacted" site. Rowlands claimed that the accumulation of lead bullets and target debris on the shooting club property constitute hazardous toxic waste that have contaminated the surrounding soil and groundwater and poisoned fish in nearby Lake Erie. Although Rowlands never used the range, he stated that because he regularly used the lands and water in the vicinity of the safety zone of the shooting club, he had been injured as a result of the contamination.
MDNR filed a motion for a dismissal of the case based on sovereign immunity, the doctrine that precludes a citizen from bringing suit against the government without its consent.
The court granted MDNR's motion to dismiss, stating that Congress can annul the state's immunity from federal court lawsuits "only by making its intentions unmistakably clear in the language of the statute." Here, the court stated, RCRA does not unequivocally express the intent of Congress to annul the Eleventh Amendment immunity. RCRA provides that "any person may commence a civil action on his own behalf -- against any person including (a) the United States, and (b) any other governmental instrumentality or agency, to the extent permitted by the eleventh amendment to the Constitution ... or (B) against any person, including the United States and any other person, including the United States and any other governmental instrumentality or agency, to the extent permitted by the eleventh amendment to the Constitution." The court pointed out that this general authorization for suit in federal court is not the kind of unequivocal statutory language that is sufficient to abrogate sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. However, RCRA citizen suit provisions do not preclude all suits against state defendants: the United States can bring an action against a state in federal court to enforce RCRA, and an individual can sue "a state officer in order to ensure that the officer's conduct is in compliance with federal law."
Rowlands v. Pointe Mouillee Shooting Club, et al. No. 94-74463, (E.D. Mich.)
This article was written by Daniella L. Landers, an associate in our Environmental Law Department, and previously appeared in the June 1997 edition of Michigan Environmental Compliance Update, our monthly newsletter published by M. Lee Smith Publishers.