In a Clean Water Act citizen suit brought by Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), the federal district court for the District of Connecticut granted summary judgment to the former owner and operator of a coastal bulk fuel storage terminal in New Haven, Connecticut, on claims that the owner-operator failed to consider climate change factors in its stormwater pollution prevention plan and to implement certain best management practices and/or control measures. With respect to the implementation-related claims, the court found that CLF had focused solely on whether the requirement in Connecticut’s General Permit for the Discharge of Stormwater Associated with Industrial Activity (the permit) to implement control measures constituting “best industry practices” imposed obligations on permittees to account for severe weather and climate change. The court found that even if the permit did require implementation of such measures, CLF did not show a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the owner-operator failed to implement a “technologically available” and “economically practicable and achievable” control measure, as required to establish a Clean Water Act violation. With respect to the claims that the owner-operator failed to “consider” climate change, the court found that CLF did not allege that it suffered a concrete injury traceable to this alleged failure and ruled that CLF therefore lacked standing for the claims. The court found that CLF’s claim that the defendant violated the permit by acting inconsistently with the goals and policies of the Connecticut Coastal Management Act failed on the additional basis that it sought to enforce state standards that exceeded federal standards. The court also ruled that CLF’s request for declaratory relief was moot after the owner-operator submitted evidence that it no longer owned or operated any coastal bulk fuel storage facilities but that CLF’s request for civil penalties was not moot. In addition, the court rejected the defendant’s claim that the permit was impermissibly vague. Although the court granted summary judgment to the defendant on all of the “Climate Change Counts,” the court granted summary judgment to CLF on its claim that the defendant failed to maintain an impervious containment area and denied summary judgment to both parties on CLF’s claim that the defendant infiltrated stormwater at the terminal in violation of the permit. The court granted in part and denied in part the owner-operator’s summary judgment motion as to a claim that the defendant failed to identify discharges to impaired waters and to document procedures for implementing impaired waters monitoring and granted summary judgment to the defendant on a claim of failure to comply with certain monitoring requirements.

Citizen suit alleging failures to prepare a bulk storage and fuel terminal in New Haven, Connecticut for the effects of climate change.

Conservation Law Foundation v. Pike Fuels LP

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Connecticut Federal Court Rejected Climate Change Adaptation Claims in Clean Water Act Citizen Suit Concerning New Haven Coastal Terminal

Filed

United States of America

Connecticut

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

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Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

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Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Connecticut Federal Court Rejected Climate Change Adaptation Claims in Clean Water Act Citizen Suit Concerning New Haven Coastal Terminal

Policy instrument

Risk

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance