Communities for a Better Environment v. State Water Resources Control Board

Appellant Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company operates the Golden Eagle Refinery (the Refinery) near Avon, California, on the shores of Suisun Bay. The Refinery operates under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region (Regional Board). The permit regulates the Refinery’s discharges of dioxins and other pollutants into Suisun Bay. In June 2000 the Regional Board amended the permit. After an administrative appeal, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) upheld the amended permit.

Respondents, Communities for a Better Environment and San Francisco BayKeeper, challenged the amended permit by a petition for writ of mandate in the superior court. Respondents argued, inter alia, that the amended permit failed to comply with applicable federal pollution control laws because it failed to set a numeric “water quality based effluent limit” (WQBEL) for dioxin discharges. The superior court agreed and granted the petition. Tesoro appeals from the judgment granting the writ of mandate, and argues that the trial court erred by ruling a WQBEL had to be numeric. We reverse…