[PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
____________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
MAR 24 2000
THOMAS K. KAHN
No. 98-3692 CLERK
____________________________
D.C. Docket No. 1:97-CV-1-MMP
STEPHEN R. BOYES and
PATRICE BOYES,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
versus
SHELL OIL PRODUCTS COMPANY,
MOBIL OIL COMPANY, and
TENNECO OIL COMPANY,
Defendants-Appellees.
_____________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Florida
_____________________________
(March 24, 2000)
ON PETITIONS FOR REHEARING AND SUGGESTIONS
OF REHEARING EN BANC
Before CARNES, Circuit Judge, and RONEY and HILL, Senior Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Having considered the petitions for rehearing and for rehearing en banc, we
conclude that they are to be denied. In doing so, however, we wish to clarify that our
holding in this case was a narrow one. The only issue before us was whether the
district court erred in abstaining from hearing the Boyes’ lawsuit brought under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6992. We
held that the district court did err. The reason abstention was inappropriate, we
explained, is that Fla. Stat. § 376.308(5) is preempted by the citizen suit provision of
the RCRA to the extent that § 376.308(5) would operate to bar suit to enforce the
RCRA.
We have had no occasion in this appeal to express any view on any other aspect
of the Florida statute or program involved in this case, and we do not do so. We
expressed in our original opinion, and we express now, no view on whether any other
aspect of the Florida program is preempted in any other circumstance or case. More
specifically, we have expressed no view on the operation of § 376.308(5) as a bar to
suit to enforce state law.
The petitions for panel rehearing are DENIED and no member of this panel nor
other judge in regular active service on the Court having requested that the Court be
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polled on rehearing en banc (Rule 35, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure; Eleventh
Circuit Rule 35-5), the petitions for rehearing en banc are DENIED.
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