ELR Citation: ELR 20231
No(s). 92-35105 (9th Cir. Dec 1, 1993)

The court holds that §309(g) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act does not bar a citizen suit against a party violating the Act when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a compliance order against the party but has not sought administrative penalties. The court finds the statutory language clear. If Congress had intended to preclude citizen suits in the face of an administrative compliance order, it could easily have done so, as it did in certain other environmental group bringing the suit, because the group prevailed only on a jurisdictional question, and not on what the suit originally sought to accomplish.

Counsel for Plaintiff
Charles C. Caldart
National Environmental Law Center
29 Temple Pl., Boston MA 02111
(617) 422-0880
Corrie J. Yackulic
Schroeter, Goldman & Bender
500 Central Bldg.
810 Third Ave., Seattle WA 98104
(206) 622-8000

Counsel for Defendant
Jeffrey W. Leppo
Bogle & Gates
Two Union Sq., 601 Union St., Seattle WA 98101
(206) 682-5151

Wallace, J. (before Boochever and Noonan, JJ.):