Alaska Cmty. Action v. Aurora, No. 13-35709 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment to defendants. The district court concluded that defendants were shielded from liability under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251, where defendants' non-stormwater discharges of coal into Resurrection Bay, Alaska, complied with the Multi-Sector General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Industrial Activity - a general permit under EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. The court concluded that the district court erred in concluding that the General Permit shielded defendants from liability for their non-stormwater coal discharges where the express terms of the General Permit prohibited defendants from such acts. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.
Court Description: Clean Water Act. The panel reversed the district court’s summary judgment entered in favor of Aurora Energy Services, LLC and Alaska Railroad Corporation in a citizen suit that challenged, pursuant to the Clean Water Act, defendants’ non-stormwater discharges of coal into Resurrection Bay, Alaska. The panel held that the district court erred in concluding that the Multi-Sector General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Industrial Activity - a general permit under the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System - shielded the defendants from liability under the Clean Water Act for their non-stormwater coal discharges. The panel remanded for further proceedings.
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