Congratulations to the Olympic Forest Coalition for succeeding in the Circuit Court of Appeals in their case against Coast Seafoods for not getting a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit for dumping effluent into Hood Canal. This case is important because the State Department of Ecology signed off on the Coastal paid document that said there were no problems, but that Ecology apparently never checked to see if the information was accurate. A judge agreed with the plaintiffs that discharges were made and that
“We further conclude, as a necessary corollary, that pipes, ditches and channels that discharge pollutants from an aquatic animal production facility that is not a (concentrated aquatic animal production facility) are point sources for which an NPDES permit is required,” he wrote later in the decision.
The Circuit Court affirmed the lower court ruling. The assumption is that Coastal will appeal to the State Supreme Court.
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |
Coastal has filed an appeal to the circuit for an en banc hearing (i.e., review by a dozen judges of 3 judge panel decision). Low odds. After that, Coastal can file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hopefully even lower odds. It would be good if they would just work with OFCO, the state DOE, and EPA to stop spewing pollutants into the Canal.