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

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

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

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Financial support to help individuals manage the effects of unexpected events, securing their livelihoods and increasing the resilience of people and businesses to the changing climate. It’s especially vital in developing regions where everyday risks, climate-related weather extremes, or crop failures can push people into poverty. Without insurance, people may have to resort to selling assets or cutting consumption to cope with losses.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Actions to adapt and increase the resilience of rural and urban infrastructure and settlements to climate change.

Coastal zone and marine-related actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience to climate change

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

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.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for all, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

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