ELR Citation: ELR 21437
No(s). 91-1004 (11th Cir. Aug 4, 1993)

The court holds that lead parts reclaimed from spent vehicle batteries are hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) and Alabama Department of Environmental Management appeal a district court's ruling in an enforcement action involving a corporation that owned a lead smelting facility in Leeds, Alabama. The district court ruled in favor of the government agencies on most issues but held that lead plates and groups, removed from batteries at the facility, were raw materials rather than hazardous waste. The court reverses, invoking the U.S. Supreme Court's two-step test set forth in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 14 ELR 20507 (1984), to review EPA's interpretive decision that reclaimed lead battery parts are hazardous waste. Because Congress has not spoken to the precise question at issue, the court addresses whether EPA reasonably construed RCRA. The court rules that EPA's regulations comport with congressional intent and the Agency's interpretation is reasonably consistent with RCRA's purpose. EPA regulations unambiguously include the lead components at issue as "discarded solid waste." It is unnecessary to read into RCRA a congressional intent that hazardous and solid waste be limited to wastes that are finally and forever discarded. The court reverses the district court's ruling as to the characterization of the lead parts, affirms the district court's decision in every other respect, and remands the case for further proceedings.

Counsel for Plaintiff-Appellant
Alton Parker Jr.
Spain, Gillon, Groomas, Blan & Nettles
2117 Second Ave. N., Birmingham AL 35203
(205) 328-4100

Counsel for Defendants-Appellees
Charles Driggars
Sirote & Permutt
2222 Arlington Ave. S., Birmingham AL 35255
(205)939-5105

Before FAY and DUBINA, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD R. GIBSON,^* Senior Circuit Judge.