RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

November 2005

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California Court of Appeal Affirms Revised Discharge Permit for Dioxin in Light of Pending Total Maximum Daily Load
Communities for a Better Environment v. State Water Resources Control Board, ___Cal.App.4th___

The California Court of Appeal recently affirmed a revised Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permit allowing Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company (Tesoro) to discharge 0.65 picograms/liter (pg/L) of dioxin into Suisun Bay from the Golden Eagle Refinery (hereafter, Tesoro), near Avon, California. Despite recent improvements that led to a 95 percent drop in dioxin levels from the Tesoro’s effluent, dioxin levels at the point of discharge into Suisun Bay were unchanged. Because factors beyond Tesoro’s control lead to the elevated dioxin levels, a new permit was approved with an interim limit focusing on the effluent when it left the refinery, and not at the point of discharge. The court affirmed this permit because the larger question of dioxin loading would be addressed in a pending total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the whole region.