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Pepperell Associates v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

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ON PETITION FOR REVIEW OF A FINAL DECISION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL APPEALS BOARD

This case illustrates the perils facing a small business that does not determine whether it is subject to regulation under 33 U.S.C. � 1321, the oil spill provision of the Clean Water Act. Pepperell Associates operates a business out of an old textile mill building in Lewiston, Maine. In October 1996, a rupture in a gasket on a boiler caused an oil spill in the boiler room of the building. Some three- to four-hundred gallons of the oil ultimately worked its way into Gully Brook and from there to the Androscoggin River, both navigable waters of the United States. The spill was largely contained with the help of cleanup experts sent in by the state of Maine.

The Environmental Protection Agency responded with a three count administrative penalty action against Pepperell. That complaint was heard by an administrative law judge and the results were appealed by both sides to the Environmental Appeals Board (“EAB”). Pepperell ended up with an order that it had violated its obligation to have a spill control plan, that it was not excused from having such a plan during a limited period by the installation of a new oil storage tank, and that it must pay a total penalty of $43,643 for the three counts of the complaint. Pepperell has sought judicial review of that order in this court. See 33 U.S.C. � 1321(b)(6)(G)(ii). We deny the petition for review.

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