page_title: Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
section_title: Arguments
hierarchical_section_title: Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. / Arguments
caption_attribution_description: English: A black and white photo of North Broadway-Buena Vista Viaduct (1909-11) over the Los Angeles River near Lincoln Heights.
context_page_description: Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 568 U.S. 78, is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Natural Resources Defense Council and Santa Monica Baykeeper challenged the Los Angeles County Flood Control District for violating the terms of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit as shown in water quality measurements from monitoring stations within the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers. The Supreme Court, by a unanimous 9-0 vote, reversed and remanded the Ninth Circuit's ruling on the grounds that the flow of water from an improved portion of a navigable waterway into an unimproved portion of the same waterway does not qualify as a "discharge of a pollutant" under the Clean Water Act.
context_section_description: The case was argued on December 4, 2012 by NRDC senior attorney Aaron Colangelo for respondents and GMSR partner Timothy T. Coates for the petitioner L.A. County. Essentially conceding that the premise upon which the Ninth Circuit's decision was based was incorrect, the NRDC and Baykeeper sought to argue that the exceedances detected at monitoring stations themselves sufficed in establishing the liability of the district under the Clean Water Act for its upstream discharges. NRDC felt that the Court of Appeals came to the correct decision, albeit for the wrong reasons, in their evaluation of the discharge of pollutants from an improved portion to an unimproved portion of the same waters. The NRDC and Baykeeper contended that the exceedances detected at the instream monitoring stations were sufficient to establish the district's liability under the Clean Water Act for upstream discharges. In addition, the NRDC argued that under the terms of the permit, the district had agreed to be severally liable with its co-permittees for any excess pollution in the river picked up by the monitoring stations.
  The district sought to argue that under the EPA's 2008 water transfer rule (40 C.F.R. § 122.3(i)) it was not liable for violating its permit. The NRDC, however, pointed out that the water transfer rules did not apply in the cases of MS4s stating that "[m]unicipal separate storm sewer systems...are clearly subject to regulation under the Act. CWA section 402(p)."
  The district argued that the issue granted certiorari by the Supreme Court had to be resolved in favor of the district on the basis of previous standing. Again, this point was not in contention on the part of the NRDC. As the first issue upon which the petition for certiorari was not going to be addressed in court, the district sought to argue the alternative monitoring argument that the NRDC was attempting to bring forth. The district argued that the monitoring theory itself was contrary to the Clean Water Act, which imposes liability only where it is shown that a permitee has discharged in violation of permit terms. The Supreme Court ruled that their grant of certiorari was only to evaluate the Court of Appeals ruling as it related to the prior standing and "did not address or indicate any opinion on the issue the NRDC and Baykeeper seek to substitute."
caption: Los Angeles River Bridge
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