On April 14, nonprofit San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper dropped its lawsuit against Santa Maria challenging the city’s management of storm-water drainage from its landfill.
SLO Coastkeeper sued Santa Maria in federal court on Nov. 4, 2015, alleging the city’s discharge permit wasn’t adequate to prevent rainwater from carrying pollution from the landfill into nearby streams.
The lawsuit was filed before El Niño, the global weather phenomenon that was predicted to bring massive amounts of rain to the Central Coast.
According to Gordon Hensley, executive director of the nonprofit Environment in the Public Interest, which encompasses SLO Coastkeeper, the lawsuit was dropped in the midst of settlement discussions.
“The city quietly extinguished their industrial discharge permit we had challenged and replaced it with a less protective construction discharge permit,” Hensley told the Sun.
Hensley also questioned the lack of transparency surrounding the city’s process to seek the permit change.
According to the landfill’s deputy manager, Jason Stillwell, the city not only complies with the Clean Water Act and storm-water permits, but also exceeds its requirements.
This article appears in Apr 21-28, 2016.