LOS ANGELES, California – Environment California announced Wednesday the settlement of its lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act at the Port of Los Angeles. The suit alleged that since at least 2019, the Port has repeatedly discharged untreated wastewater with illegal levels of toxic copper and fecal bacteria into the Los Angeles Harbor within San Pedro Bay.
“Californians deserve healthy and vibrant coastal waters, not contaminated effluent that can lap up on our world-renowned shores,” said Laura Deehan, Environment California’s state director. “This settlement is a great step toward a cleaner, safer San Pedro Bay, and it’s a demonstration of the vital role that citizen lawsuits play in the enforcement of our federal environmental laws.”
The Port of Los Angeles, also known as the Los Angeles Harbor Department, is a department of the City of Los Angeles. Environment California’s lawsuit, filed on July 23, 2024, in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleged more than 2,000 illegal discharges of pollution within just the previous five years. That pollution stems from bacteria-laden stormwater and contaminated groundwater that accumulates in a 53-acre area of the port and is discharged into the harbor.
If approved by U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall after a 45-day waiting period, the settlement will require the Port to significantly improve its management of stormwater and groundwater. The city will need to treat stormwater to ensure that fecal bacteria stay out of the harbor, and redirect groundwater contaminated with toxic pollutants to the Terminal Island Water Reclamation Plant, where the water can be beneficially reused after treatment.
The settlement includes specific metrics to measure the Port’s performance. Failure to comply will trigger automatic monetary penalties.
“This settlement promises to finally put an end to the Port’s long-standing violations that have plagued the harbor for years,” said NELC Staff Attorney Lewis DeHope, counsel for Environment California. “Bacteria and copper are out, effective treatment is in.”
Under the settlement, the Port is required to pay $1,300,000 to the Rose Foundation For Communities & The Environment for projects to restore the Los Angeles Harbor and San Pedro Bay, with the majority of funds earmarked for a multi-year project to remove tons of trash from San Pedro Bay. The Port will also pay a $130,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury.
“This settlement has a double benefit for the harbor,” noted Deehan. “In addition to ending the Port’s discharge violations, the settlement funds will remove trash and go a long way toward ensuring cleaner, better days in the harbor’s future.”
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Environment California is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization working for clean air, clean water, clean energy, wildlife and open spaces, and a livable climate. For more information about our work, visit https://environmentamerica.org/california/.
Environment California is represented by the Boston-based, nonprofit National Environmental Law Center, which represents citizen groups across the country in actions to enforce the nation’s environmental laws, and by environmental attorney David Nicholas of Newton, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.nelc.org.
