Sierra Club, Inc. v. Electronic Controls Design, Inc.
Opinion
Opinion
Goodwin, J.
Sierra Club, Inc. appeals the refusal to enter a proposed consent judgment in its citizens’ suit against Electronic Controls Design (ECD) for alleged violations of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (“Clean Water Act” or “the Act”), 33 U.S.C. § 1365 (1988). We reverse.
On February 23, 1987, the Sierra Club filed a citizens’ suit against ECD under section 505 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1365 . See Sierra Club, Inc. v. Electronic Controls Design, 703 F.Supp. 875, 875-76 (D.Or.1989). The complaint alleged that ECD violated section 301(a) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1311 (a), by discharging pollutants from its printed circuit board manufacturing plant into the Molalla River via Milk Creek, in violation of the terms of ECD’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
On September 30, 1988, the parties filed a Stipulation for Entry of Consent Judgment. In the proposed judgment, ECD agreed to: (1) comply with the terms of its NPDES permit and to terminate all discharges if it violates its permit after June 1, 1989;. (2) pay $45,000 to various identified private environmental organizations for their efforts to maintain and protect water quality in Oregon;…