City of Imperial Beach v. Int'l Boundary & Water Comm'n

356 F. Supp. 3d 1006
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedDecember 11, 2018
DocketCase No.: 18cv457 JM (JMA)
StatusPublished

This text of 356 F. Supp. 3d 1006 (City of Imperial Beach v. Int'l Boundary & Water Comm'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Imperial Beach v. Int'l Boundary & Water Comm'n, 356 F. Supp. 3d 1006 (S.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

JEFFREY T. MILLER, United States District Judge

On September 26, 2018, Defendants the International Boundary & Water Commission - United States Section ("USIBWC") and Veolia Water North America - West, LLC ("Veolia") (collectively, "Defendants") filed separate motions to dismiss. (Doc. Nos. 32, 33.) Plaintiffs the City of Imperial Beach, San Diego Unified Port District, and the City of Chula Vista (collectively, "Plaintiffs") oppose the motions. (Doc. No. 37.) Having carefully considered the matters presented, the court record, and the arguments of counsel, the court grants in part and denies in part both motions.

BACKGROUND1

This case arises out of the management and operation of facilities in the Tijuana River Valley intended to direct and treat water flowing from Mexico across the international border into the United States. On September 27, 2017, Plaintiffs sent Defendants a Notice of Intent ("NOI") indicating Plaintiffs' intent to sue Defendants for violations of the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), 33 U.S.C. § 1365(b), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"), 42 U.S.C. § 6972(a)(1)(B). (Doc. No. 31.) The NOI informed Defendants that their discharge of pollutants into the Tijuana River Valley violated both the CWA and RCRA. On March 2, 2018, Plaintiffs initiated this action against Defendants.

*1011(Doc. No. 1.) On June 12, 2018, USIBWC and Veolia moved to dismiss the First Amended Complaint ("FAC"), arguing in part that Plaintiffs failed to state a RCRA claim. On August 29, 2018, the court granted in part and denied in part Defendants' motions to dismiss, dismissing Plaintiffs' RCRA claim with leave to amend. (Doc. No. 26.)

On September 12, 2018, Plaintiffs filed the operative Second Amended Complaint ("SAC"). (Doc. No. 31.) The SAC alleges three causes of action: (1) against USIBWC, for discharges of pollutants from the flood control conveyance without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") permit in violation of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1342 ; (2) against both Defendants, for discharges of pollutants from the canyon collectors in violation of the CWA and the NPDES Permit; and (3) against both Defendants, for contribution to an imminent and substantial endangerment in violation of RCRA. Defendants' motions to dismiss followed on September 26, 2018.

I. The Parties

A. Plaintiffs

The City of Imperial Beach is a California General Law City and municipal corporation, organized and existing by virtue of the laws of the State of California. The San Diego Unified Port District is a public entity created by the San Diego Unified Port District Act, California Harbors & Navigation Code, Appendix 1, § 1 et seq. The City of Chula Vista is a California Charter City and municipal corporation, organized and existing by virtue of the laws of the State of California and the Charter of the City of Chula Vista.

B. Defendants

The USIBWC is an agency and instrumentality of the United States government charged with addressing transboundary issues arising out of agreements between the United States and Mexico, including the Treaty of February 3, 1944, for the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande ("1944 Treaty"). Veolia is a limited liability company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Massachusetts. Veolia contracts with USIBWC to operate and maintain the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant ("South Bay Plant") and its associated facilities.

II. The International Boundary and Water Commission

The International Boundary and Water Commission ("Commission") is a bi-national body comprised of the USIBWC and the Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas ("CILA") in Mexico. Both sections of the Commission exercise the rights and obligations of their governments under the 1944 Treaty. Under the 1944 Treaty,

Neither Section [the USIBWC or CILA] shall assume jurisdiction or control over works located within the limits of the country of the other without the express consent of the Government of the latter. The works constructed, acquired or used in fulfillment of the provisions of this Treaty and located wholly within the territorial limits of either country, although these works may be international in character, shall remain, except as herein otherwise specifically provided, under the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the Section of the Commission in whose country the works may be situated.

(Doc. No. 33-2 ("1944 Treaty") Art. 2.)

III. South Bay Plant

Decisions of the Commission are recorded in Minutes. In 1990, the Commission entered into an agreement known as Minute 283 to address the border sanitation *1012problem in San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Baja California. (Doc. No. 16-2 ("Minute 283").) Among other things, Minute 283 led to the construction of the South Bay Plant.

The South Bay Plant is located in the Tijuana River Valley in the City of San Diego, San Diego County, California. The South Bay Plant was designed to handle 25 million gallons per day, based on a 30-day average, "to treat sewage generated in excess of the capacity" of facilities in Mexico. (Minute 283 at 4.) USIBWC owns the South Bay Plant, and Veolia operates it. The South Bay Plant and its associated facilities are subject to the terms of NPDES permit No. CA0108929 (the "NPDES Permit"). The NPDES Permit authorizes discharges of pollutants at the South Bay Ocean Outfall only, and only after such pollutants have gone through secondary treatment at the South Bay Plant. All other discharges are prohibited.

(SAC at 17.)

The primary influent to the South Bay Plant is sewage from Mexico. (SAC ¶ 58.) While a CILA Diversion exists in Mexico to divert flows in the Mexican Tijuana River into the transboundary sewage system, it "frequently malfunctions, allowing sewage to flow past the Diversion and across the U.S./Mexico Border." (SAC ¶ 59.)

C. Canyon Collectors

Water that crosses the border into the United States from Mexico west of the flood control conveyance does so at six discernible locations: Yogurt Canyon, Goat Canyon, Smuggler's Gulch, Canyon Del Sol, Silva Drain, and Stewart's Drain. USIBWC owns and Veolia operates and maintains canyon collectors at five of these locations, excluding Yogurt Canyon.

*1013(SAC at 16.)

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356 F. Supp. 3d 1006, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-imperial-beach-v-intl-boundary-water-commn-casd-2018.