Hotel Employers Association of San Francisco v. Anne M. Gorsuch, as Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency

Hotel Employers Association of San Francisco appeals a summary judgment award entered against it in an action brought to invalidate the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of a system of sewer service charges adopted by the City and County of San Francisco. Two principal issues are raised: (1) did the district court err in holding that the EPA Administrator and the EPA’s agents were not “arbitrary and capricious” in approving the City sewer charge system? and (2) did the district court err in holding that the City charge system did not violate equal protection or due process guarantees under the federal and California constitutions? We find no error and therefore affirm.

FACTS

The City and County of San Francisco (“the City”) operates a combined sewer system, meaning that both sanitary sewage and surface runoff flow into the same water collection and treatment network. The treatment system’s capacity is sometimes overwhelmed when it rains, resulting in discharges of raw sewage and surface runoff into the bay and ocean between 80 and 100 times per year.

Under an order from the California State Water Resources Control Board (“the State Board”) to abate the discharges, the…