Schutte & Koerting, Inc. v. Regional Water Quality Control Board

Respondent California Regional Water Quality Control Board (the Regional Board or Board) oversees the investigation and cleanup by appellants Schutte & Koerting, Inc. (hereafter sometimes referred to as S&K), and Ametek, Inc. (Ametek) (together, appellants), of a large toxic groundwater plume of metal cleaning solvents and other industrial wastes that leaked into the ground at an aerospace manufacturing facility that appellants once owned and operated. In July 2003 the Regional Board issued an investigative order (the HHRA order) under Water Code section 13267, requiring appellants to conduct a human health risk assessment (hereafter sometimes referred to as HHRA) at the aerospace site to determine whether chlorinated solvent vapors from the toxic plume were migrating into the buildings at the site and exposing the employees there to an unacceptable risk to their health due to the inhalation of any such vapors. Without obtaining a hearing before the Regional Board, appellants unsuccessfully challenged the HHRA order by submitting two petitions for review to the State Water Resources Control Board (the State Board), and then petitioned the superior court under Code of…