## Facts

- Sharon Steel Corporation operated a steel-production plant in Ohio.
- The plant discharged industrial wastewater containing pollutants into a tributary of the Mahoning River.
- The Clean Water Act prohibits discharges of pollutants from a point source to waters of the United States unless the discharge is authorized by, and conducted in accordance with, an effective National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
- Sharon discharged wastewater for years without an issued NPDES permit.
- After discharging for some time, Sharon submitted an application for an NPDES permit.
- While the permit application was pending, Sharon continued discharging wastewater.
- The discharges continued for more than five years, spanning periods both before and after Sharon filed its permit application.
- The permit was eventually granted.
- After permit issuance, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a finding and order asserting that Sharon’s discharges before the permit was issued were unlawful.
- The United States, on behalf of the EPA, brought a civil enforcement action alleging Clean Water Act violations based on Sharon’s pre-permit discharges.
- Sharon argued that submitting its NPDES permit application meant it had satisfied the Clean Water Act and should not be liable for discharges occurring before permit issuance.
- Sharon also argued that 28 U.S.C. § 2462 barred enforcement for any violations occurring more than five years before the lawsuit.
- The United States moved for partial summary judgment on liability.

## Issues

1. Whether filing an NPDES permit application shields a facility from Clean Water Act liability for discharges occurring before the permit is issued.
2. Whether the five-year limitations period in 28 U.S.C. § 2462 bars the government’s claims where unpermitted discharges occurred over a period exceeding five years and continued into the limitations period.

## Decision

- The court granted the United States’ motion for partial summary judgment on liability.
- The court held that a pending NPDES permit application does not authorize discharges and does not bar liability for discharges made before the permit is issued.
- The court rejected Sharon’s statute-of-limitations defense insofar as it sought to defeat liability for an ongoing course of unpermitted discharges that extended into the five-year period; at minimum, violations within the limitations period remained actionable.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Clean Water Act, discharging pollutants without an effective NPDES permit violates the statute; submitting a permit application is not the same as having permit authorization.
- A discharger’s effort to obtain a permit may bear on remedies, but it does not erase liability for discharges that occurred without a permit.
- For recurring Clean Water Act violations, the statute of limitations in 28 U.S.C. § 2462 restricts recovery for time-barred violations but does not eliminate liability for violations occurring within the five-year period before suit, even if the violations began earlier.
- Partial summary judgment on liability is proper when the material facts showing unpermitted discharges are not genuinely disputed and the asserted defenses fail as a matter of law.

## Conclusion

The court held Sharon Steel liable under the Clean Water Act for discharging polluted wastewater before receiving an NPDES permit, ruling that a permit application did not legalize continued discharges and that § 2462 did not bar liability for unpermitted discharges that continued into the five-year limitations period.


United States v. Sharon Steel Corporation, 30 ERC (BNA) 1778 (1989)