ELR Citation: ELR 20194
No(s). A107572 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. Sep 27, 2005)

A court holds that amendments to a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit that regulates a refinery's discharges of dioxins and other pollutants into Suisun Bay, California, comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA). The original permit included a water quality-based effluent limit of 0.14 picograms per liter (pg/L). In 2000, the Regional Water Resources Control Board replaced the numeric water quality-based limit with an interim effluent limitation of 0.65 pg/l. The new interim effluent limitation was not water quality-based, but performance-based. An environmental group argued that the interim effluent limitation of 0.65 pg/l violates the CWA's antibacksliding provision by allowing an increase in pollution over the prior limitation of 0.14 pg/L. But because the interim limitation is performance-based and the prior limitation was water quality-based, the interim limitation is not comparable to the prior limitation and the antibacksliding provisions do not apply. The court also rejected the group's claims that the permit's schedule of compliance was invalid.