Advocacy & Litigation

Enforcement is a cornerstone of environmental protection, central to achieving our goals of clean and vital coastal waters. Santa Monica Baykeeper's advocacy and litigation program is designed to ensure that our nation's water quality laws are not ignored, whether by the polluters themselves or by those agencies charged with protecting our rivers and beaches.

Litigation and advocacy have formed the heart of Santa Monica Baykeeper's work since its founding in 1993; in 2010, its Board of Directors re-affirmed the centrality of this work as an effective, cost-effective, and highly leveraged means to meet the organization's mission. Please visit these pages frequently for updates on all our cases and advocacy campaigns.

Recent News

March 10, 2011 — L.A. County Ordered to Clean Up Water Pollution

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today finding the Los Angeles County’s Flood Control District responsible for the billions of gallons of untreated stormwater runoff it allows to pollute Southern California’s rivers and, ultimately, its most popular beaches. The decision stems from a 2008 lawsuit filed by NRDC and Santa Monica Baykeeper.

“This ruling holds LA County responsible for their massive water pollution problem,” said Aaron Colangelo, senior attorney with NRDC. “For years, the County claimed that it could never be held accountable for its toxic discharges, even if the water were so polluted that it literally caught on fire. All of that changes with this ruling. The result will be fewer illnesses, fewer beach closings, a healthier environment, and a healthier regional economy.”

This ruling affirms that the County must do more to improve water quality and protect public health and the environment.  As a remedy for the violations identified by the court, NRDC and Santa Monica Baykeeper will seek a court order requiring the County to reduce runoff pollution to levels that protect public health and the environment. 
“The court’s decision should be celebrated by all who value coastal and aquatic resources like recreation, natural habitats, and scenic beauty,” said Liz Crosson, Executive Director and Baykeeper of Santa Monica Baykeeper. “The decision is a critical step towards addressing water pollution in major Los Angeles waterways.”

Please see the press release for more information.

December 15, 2010 — Fish & Game Makes History, Adopts MPA Network for Southern California

On Wednesday, December 15, Santa Monica Baykeeper and other environmental groups, fishing interests, scientists, and others appeared at the final California Fish & Game Commission hearings on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). By the end of the day, the commission had formalized an MPA network begun 10 years ago when the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) first became law.

The Commission decided on a comprehensive MPA plan for Southern California, creating underwater parks at such crucial spots as Naples Reef, Point Dume, Palos Verdes, Laguna Beach, and La Jolla. The Commissioners' task was to approve or disapprove the entire network of MPAs created in December 2009 by the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for Southern California, which attempted to balance the needs of marine life with economic dependence on our valuable natural resources. It was a close decision, passing on a 3-to-2 vote. Special thanks to Commissioners Mike Sutton, Richard Rogers, and Jack Baylis for voting to adopt the MPAs with only slight modification.

The final plan was a compromise between various ocean users and interests, and fell short of achieving the amount of protection we have been fighting for. Nevertheless, it is a monumental improvement to the status quo and a good start to setting aside special places where marine life is allowed to flourish without the pressures brought about by fishing. Around the world, MPAs help marine life recover, and if designed correctly they have also helped local fisheries return to previous levels.

Santa Monica Baykeeper's staff and volunteers will watch (and monitor) Point Dume and Palos Verdes with anticipation, hoping they will become symbols of both past and future plenty off the Los Angeles coast.

December 14, 2010 — State Water Board Upholds Power Plant Policy

On December 14, the State Water Board rejected a proposed amendment that would have severely impaired an important California policy for protecting marine life and ecosystems. After the May 2010 approval of the statewide Once-Through Cooling (OTC) Policy that requires the phase-out of a destructive cooling technology, the State Water Board proposed an amendment to the policy that could have postponed compliance for some power plants indefinitely.

Santa Monica Baykeeper and its partners testified in Sacramento on Tuesday urging the Board to let the policy -- the product of years of negotiation -- function before deciding to make drastic and unnecessary changes. Fortunately, the State Board heard us and rejected the amendment. Thus by April, fossil-fueled coastal power plants will be required to submit a plan outlining their plans for compliance.

OTC sucks in huge amounts of water from the ocean to cool power generators, killing millions of marine organisms every day who either get impinged on screens in the intake pipes or actually are sucked all the way through the system. The OTC Policy is a long-overdue measure to address a 35-year old problem.

Please visit "Pacific Swell," the blog of KPCC's Molly Peterson, who interviewed Santa Monica Baykeeper Liz Crosson for a "backgrounder" on once-through cooling.

Click here to download audio of the interview, which took place on Santa Monica Baykeeper's boat on November 12, 2010.

For more information, please see the article in December 16, 2010's Los Angeles Times.

December 14, 2010 — Appellate Court Reverses Runoff Decision

On December 14, the California Court of Appeal overturned a prior trial court decision that had threatened to undo the protection of Southern California's rivers and beaches from runoff pollution. The court's decision affirms the position of Santa Monica Baykeeper and its partners, NRDC and Heal the Bay, agreeing that the federal Clean Water Act requires state water boards to protect water quality and properly enforce science-based measures to reduce stormwater pollution in L.A. and Ventura counties.

A group of cities opposing stormwater regulation and the Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation filed the initial lawsuit in 2005, seeking to prevent the application of established water quality standards to control runoff pollution and its harmful effects on humans and aquatic life in Southern California's coastal waters and rivers. In 2008, Baykeeper and our partners intervened in the case after the Superior Court stripped the water board's authority to enforce pollution limits to regulate stormwater pollution, ruling that the water board did not follow proper state regulation when it established limits for L.A. and Ventura County waterways.

This week's appeals court decision found that the water board's actions were compelled by the federal Clean Water Act, and that state law could not be used to justify imposing lower water quality levels. The court held that Southern California's water bodies must be protected from pollution regardless of its source -- a clear win for our waterways and the public.

November 6, 2010 — Victory for Clean Water and Surfrider Beach

Santa Monica Baykeeper, a long-time advocate of Clean Water Act enforcement in the bacteria-laden Malibu Creek Watershed, testified alongside Heal the Bay, Surfrider Foundation, Malibu Surfing Association, and aggrieved surfers at the State Water Resources Control Board meeting yesterday in Sacramento.

The State Board, after hearing concerns from both sides of the issue, voted 5-0 in support of a prohibition that finally rids the Malibu Civic Center area of septic tanks once and for all. Thank you to all who signed onto the petition! Full Press Release Here.

August 4, 2010 — Federal Court Finds Malibu Violated Clean Water Act

The City of Malibu violated the federal Clean Water Act when it discharged polluted water into Santa Monica Bay beaches in a coastal preserve, according to a decision issued by a Federal District Court.

Santa Monica Baykeeper and NRDC sued the City of Malibu in 2008 for violations of its 2001 Clean Water Act permit. The lawsuit seeks to hold Malibu accountable to measurably reducing urban runoff, the top source of coastal water pollution in California that sickens thousands of people annually and fouls coastal ecosystems. Full Press Release Here.

April 27, 2010 — Federal Court Finds the City of Los Angeles Violated Clean Water Act

The City of Los Angeles violated the federal Clean Water Act when it discharged polluted water into world-famous Surfrider Beach along with the Southern California coast, according to a decision issued by a Federal District Court.

Santa Monica Baykeeper and NRDC sued the City of Los Angeles in 2008 for violations of its 2001 Clean Water Act permit. Full Press Release Here.

January 16, 2006: Executive Director, Tracy Egoscue is inverviewed by ABC after two million gallons of untreated sewage spilled over a large section of beach along the Santa Monica Bay. Los Angeles County says it's the largest spill of its kind in more than a decade.