Wheeler

INTRODUCTION

22 In these related challenges to a federal agency determination, the parties stipulate to 23 consolidation and the original requestor of the agency determination moves to intervene. 24 25 Intervention is unopposed. For the reasons below, the actions are CONSOLIDATED and the 26 motions to intervene are GRANTED. 27 STATEMENT In March 2019, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a final determination on the jurisdictional status of waters under the Clean Water Act within an area known as the Redwood City Salt Ponds, adjacent to the San Francisco bay’s Westpoint Slough. The jurisdictional determination found that the contested area did not include “waters of the United States” under the CWA and thus was not entitled to the CWA’s protections. The EPA’s conclusion was directly at odds, however, with a draft prepared by its San Francisco- based Region 9 division in November 2016. Region 9’s draft found that most of the contested area constituted “waters of the United States” for purposes of CWA jurisdiction. The question of what weight the EPA owed the Region 9 draft…