## Facts

- Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. (ASLF), a public-interest environmental organization, brought a citizen-enforcement action under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA).
- Buffalo Envelope, a manufacturing facility in New York, allegedly failed to submit required EPCRA § 313 toxic chemical release reports (Form R) for the 1987 and 1988 reporting years.
- ASLF sought declaratory relief, civil penalties payable to the U.S. Treasury, access to records, and measures supporting future compliance.
- After an earlier jurisdictional motion was denied, the defendant filed a later motion to dismiss asserting (1) lack of Article III standing and (2) constitutional defects in EPCRA’s citizen-suit scheme under separation-of-powers principles and the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.

## Issues

1. Whether ASLF alleged an injury in fact fairly traceable to the defendant’s EPCRA reporting violations and redressable by the requested relief, sufficient for Article III standing.
2. Whether EPCRA’s citizen-suit provision impermissibly intrudes on executive enforcement authority by allowing private plaintiffs to seek civil penalties for the public fisc, violating separation of powers.
3. Whether EPCRA’s reporting, notice, and penalty scheme violates the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause by failing to provide fair notice or by authorizing arbitrary penalties.

## Decision

- The court denied the motion to dismiss.
- The court held ASLF adequately alleged Article III standing based on its members’ informational and health-related interests in timely access to toxic release information.
- The court held EPCRA’s citizen-suit provision does not violate separation of powers because it operates within a framework that preserves executive control (including agency enforcement authority, intervention rights, and limits when the government is diligently prosecuting).
- The court held EPCRA’s requirements and enforcement structure provide sufficiently clear standards and fair warning to satisfy due process.

## Legal Principles

- Article III standing requires a personal injury fairly traceable to the challenged conduct and likely to be redressed by the requested relief.
- In an EPCRA citizen suit, delayed or denied access to statutorily required toxic release information can constitute a cognizable informational injury, particularly where the statute’s purpose is public access to such information.
- Redressability may be satisfied by declaratory relief and civil penalties to the Treasury when those penalties serve a deterrent function, along with orders facilitating access to compliance information and records.
- Citizen-suit enforcement mechanisms are consistent with separation of powers where the statutory scheme preserves meaningful executive oversight, including government initiation authority, intervention rights, and preclusion when the government is diligently prosecuting.
- Due process is satisfied when a regulatory reporting regime supplies clear standards identifying covered entities, trigger thresholds, and filing obligations, and provides fair warning of potential penalties for noncompliance.

## Conclusion

The court allowed the EPCRA citizen-enforcement action to proceed, concluding that ASLF had standing grounded in informational injury from untimely toxic release reporting and rejecting constitutional challenges to EPCRA’s citizen-suit and penalty framework under separation-of-powers and due-process principles.


Atlantic States Legal Found., Inc. v. Buffalo Envelope, A Div. of Am. Envelope Co., 823 F. Supp. 1065 (W.D.N.Y. 1993)