ELR Citation: 56 ELR 20097
No(s). 1:23-cv-00794-KES-SKO (E.D. Cal. Jul 17, 2026) (Sherriff, J.)

A district court denied the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District's motion to dismiss a CAA citizen suit brought against it for allegedly violating California's SIP. Environmental justice groups sued the district, arguing that although EPA reclassified the San Joaquin Valley as an extreme ozone nonattainment area in 2004, the district failed to require offsets at the ratio mandated for the nonattainment areas until 2010, and that the district counted as offsets certain emissions reductions that were not actually creditable under existing law to claim that it had demonstrated equivalency under the Annual Offset Equivalency Tracking System. The district moved to dismiss, arguing the citizen suit provision did not authorize suits against it in its capacity as a regulator. The court found the district's argument was inconsistent with Ninth Circuit authority, and that CAA §7604(a)(1) provided a cause of action against the district for its alleged violation of the SIP. It denied the motion.