Sierra Club v. Union Oil Co. of California

ORDER RE CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT and MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On June 4, 1984, the Sierra Club (“Sierra”) brought a citizen enforcement action, pursuant to section 505 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1365 (a), against Union Oil Company of California (“Union Oil”), alleging that Union Oil violated the terms of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit on seventy-six occasions during the period between April 1979 through December 1983. Sierra moved to amend its complaint to add additional allegations of permit violations, some reported by Union Oil as occurring after March 30, 1979, some reported by Union Oil as occurring before March 30,1979, and some never reported by Union Oil. This court denied Sierra’s motion to amend. After a five day bench trial, this court found no violations in Union Oil’s NPDES permit. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed this court’s finding of no liability for seventy-four of the exceedances alleged in the original complaint, and reversed the court’s denial of leave to amend the complaint, except as to violations about which Sierra knew or should have known when it filed the original…