The federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled decisively in favor of LA Waterkeeper and its co-plaintiff and partner Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), agreeing the groups have the right to pursue injunctive relief against LA County for violating water quality standards contained in the 2001 MS4 Permit regulating pollution in the County's stormwater discharges.

The October 31 ruling, reversing a lower court decision, sets an important federal precedent because it establishes a clear legal right for citizen watchdogs like LAW and NRDC to pursue injunctive relief for Clean Water Act permit violations, even when the permit is subsequently reissued. This is an important legal milestone in a lengthy case that had gone all the way to the US Supreme Court!

While the federal court's ruling was limited to addressing the 'mootness' issue, the three-judge panel's decision included language that suggested that they agreed with NRDC and LAW that the 2012 stormwater permit may have improperly weakened provisions of the 2001 permit. The two groups have a separate legal challenge against the 2012 permit in state court, with a critical hearing scheduled in late January. While the federal court ruling does not bind the state court, we expect and hope the court will strongly consider this important ruling when determining whether the State Water Board violated anti-backsliding provisions of the Clean Water Act when issuing its 2012 permit.