LOS ANGELES – Environment California announced Tuesday that it has filed a federal lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles for allegedly violating the federal Clean Water Act with over 2,000 illegal discharges of pollution over the last five years alone.
The group charges that the Port has routinely exceeded legal limits on fecal bacteria, copper, and several other harmful pollutants it discharges into San Pedro Bay. Environment California also alleges that the Port’s stormwater treatment system is drastically undersized and that, as a result, untreated wastewater frequently bypasses the system entirely, in violation of federal law.
The Port of Los Angeles, also known as the Los Angeles Harbor Department, is a department of the City of Los Angeles. Because the Port generates its revenues from leasing and service fees charged to the largest shipping companies in the world, it doesn’t depend on funding from tax dollars. Last month, the Port approved a $2.6 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year that projects $281 million in net revenues.
“Everyone in and around the Los Angeles Harbor knows that the water quality is terrible. We are suing to get the Port’s pollution of San Pedro Bay under control and make it a model for improving water quality,” explained Laura Deehan, Environment California’s state director. “If a well-funded city department pollutes in violation of its Clean Water Act permit limits, how can the city expect anyone else to comply?”
At issue is contaminated stormwater and groundwater conveyed from an approximately 53-acre portion of the Port, located about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. An on-site treatment system is supposed to remove the grit, toxic metals and bacteria that accumulate on the property during dry weather and pollute the stormwater when it rains.
However, Environment California says, the Port’s treatment system is both ineffective and grossly undersized. As a result, the Port has consistently violated the Clean Water Act for years by discharging excessive, illegal levels of copper and fecal bacteria. Despite regularly paying a “mandatory minimum” state penalty of $3,000 per violation, the violations continue unabated.
“This is a classic case of ‘pay-to-pollute,’ where the Port habitually violates its Clean Water Act permit, pays a slap-on-the-wrist-penalty, and then, undeterred, just goes right on polluting,” said Deehan. “As storms become more severe due to climate change, it is imperative that the Port upgrade its treatment systems to keep illegal, preventable pollution out of our coastal waters. The Port can afford to solve this problem – and the people of California cannot afford for unchecked pollution like this to continue.”
Under the federal Clean Water Act’s “citizen suit” provision, private citizens affected by violations of the law are allowed to bring an enforcement action against the violator in federal court after providing 60 days’ notice of the violations to the violator and to state and federal environmental agencies. Environment California sent its notice of intent on May 21, 2024. Citizens can sue for civil penalties and a court order requiring the violator to comply with the law and remediate the harm caused by its violations.
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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, non-profit 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.
