Baykeeper/NRDC Prevail in Southwest Marine Appeal
On December 19, 2000, San Diego Baykeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) prevailed in Southwest Marine's appeal of the September 1999 judgment against the shipyard. The U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit upheld District Court Judge Rudi Brewster's order requiring the shipyard to improve their stormwater pollution prevention practices and fining the company $799,000 for recurring permit violations.
According to attorney Everett DeLano, “By unanimously rejecting all of the defendants' arguments on appeal, the Ninth Circuit has affirmed important precedents related to notice letter adequacy, standing requirements for citizen suit actions, evidence needed to establish ongoing violations, judicial discretion in scope of injunctive relief and reasonableness of civil penalties. This decision validates the rights of citizens everywhere to challenge activities that pollute their local waters.”
Southwest Marine, the Navy's largest ship repair and maintenance facility on the West Coast, has a long history of failing to implement required measures that would prevent toxins from flowing freely from their facility into San Diego Bay. In his initial ruling, Judge Brewster went so far as to blame “a pattern of poor housekeeping” for causing the leasehold around the shipyard to be “devoid of life”.
The unanimous District Court ruling, issued by Judges Susan P. Graber, Alex Kozinski and Raymond C. Fisher, affirms Southwest Marine's need to continue taking corrective actions to reduce the impacts of pollution from their operations on the Bay, including building a stormwater diversion facility to capture the first half-inch of stormwater coming off all piers and increasing toxicity sampling and analysis during stormwater events to ensure that compliance efforts are effective.
“This is a critical victory for Baykeeper, for NRDC and for everyone who enjoys the waters of San Diego Bay,” noted Baykeeper Executive Director Bruce Reznik. “We owe a tremendous debt to the attorneys who have worked so hard on this case - Steven Crandall, Everett DeLano, John Barth, Scott Peters and Joel Reynolds - and to everyone else who has assisted us during the five years of this litigation.”
While the Ninth Circuit ruling was one more important step in forcing Southwest Marine to comply with the Clean Water Act, the fight is still not finished. Added Reznik, “this has been a very contentious case at every step of the way, and we expect Southwest Marine to continue to appeal the rulings against them until all avenues are exhausted.”
In a related matter, Baykeeper has been working closely with the Environmental Health Coalition and Surfrider Foundation to ensure that the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board imposes strict sediment clean-up levels on Southwest Marine and National Steel and Shipbuilding Company ('NASSCO'). The Regional Board is currently considering various potential clean-up levels for the areas surrounding the two facilities, with Baykeeper and others demanding full clean-up of all the sediment contamination caused by the shipyards' years of neglect. The Regional Board's final decision is expected at their February 21 meeting. Please contact Baykeeper's office if you would like your voice heard on this important issue.