Train

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This is a complex environmental protection action arising under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. (“the Act”). Plaintiff Shell Oil Company has filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency and its Administrator, Russell Train, to challenge the promulgation of administrative regulations governing the petroleum industry, and to challenge the issuance of a water pollution permit and denial of a variance from the specific regulations governing plaintiff’s refinery at Martinez, California.

Presently before the court is defendant’s motion to dismiss the entire action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. From our review of the applicable legislation, we conclude that the district court lacks jurisdiction to consider any of the matters raised in plaintiff’s complaint.

I. THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT

Prior to 1972, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1965 was keyed to a system of water standards: to enjoin a suspected polluter, the government was required to prove that water near an industrial source had fallen below the applicable standards, and that the defendant had proximately…