Cite as: 503 U. S. 607 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
with the CWA, RCRA, or state law supplanting the federal regulation.
DOE admits that the CWA and RCRA obligate a federal polluter, like any other, to obtain permits from EPA or the state permitting agency, see Brief for Petitioner DOE 24 (discussing CWA); id., at 34-40 (discussing RCRA).3 DOE also concedes that the CWA and RCRA render federal agencies liable for fines imposed to induce them to comply with injunctions or other judicial orders designed to modify behavior prospectively, which we will speak of hereafter as "coercive fines." See id., at 19-20, and n. 10; see also n. 14, infra. The parties disagree only on whether the CWA and RCRA, in either their "federal-facilities" 4 or "citizen-suit" 5 sections, waive federal sovereign immunity from liability for fines,
3 DOE's water-pollution permit was issued by EPA. See Complaint
¶ 29. DOE had no RCRA permit at the time Ohio commenced this suit, despite RCRA's requirement that facilities such as DOE's Fernald plant obtain one. See Complaint ¶¶ 50, 52, 57; Answer of Federal Defendants
¶ 57.
4 33 U. S. C. § 1323(a) (CWA); 42 U. S. C. § 6961 (RCRA). The federal-facilities sections of the CWA and RCRA govern the extent to which federally operated facilities, such as DOE's Fernald facility, are subject to the requirements, including fines, of both their respective statutes and EPA-approved, state-law regulation and enforcement programs.
5 33 U. S. C. § 1365(a) (CWA); 42 U. S. C. § 6972(a) (RCRA). The citizen-suit sections of the CWA and RCRA authorize private enforcement of the provisions of their respective statutes. Unlike the waivers in the federal-facilities sections, which set forth the scope of federal sovereign immunity from the requirements, including fines, of both their respective statutes and EPA-approved, state-law regulation and enforcement programs, the citizen-suit sections, to the extent they waive federal immunity at all, waive such immunity only from federal-law penalties.
States may sue the United States under the citizen-suit sections. See 33 U. S. C. § 1365(a) (any "citizen" may bring citizen suit under CWA); id., § 1365(g) (defining "citizen" for purposes of CWA citizen-suit section as "person . . . having an interest which is or may be adversely affected"); id., § 1362(5) (defining "person" for purposes of CWA to include a State); 42 U. S. C. § 6972 ("any person" may bring citizen suit under RCRA); id., § 6903(15) ("person" for purposes of RCRA includes a State).
613
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