Water Quality Protection Coalition v. Municipality of Arecibo

858 F. Supp. 2d 203, 2012 WL 1512124, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61081
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMay 1, 2012
DocketCivil No. 11-1593 (SEC)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 858 F. Supp. 2d 203 (Water Quality Protection Coalition v. Municipality of Arecibo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Water Quality Protection Coalition v. Municipality of Arecibo, 858 F. Supp. 2d 203, 2012 WL 1512124, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61081 (prd 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SALVADOR E. CASELLAS, Senior District Judge.

Before the Court are defendant’s motion to dismiss (Docket # 9), and plaintiffs’ opposition thereto (Docket # 11). After reviewing the filings and the applicable law, defendant’s motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

Factual and Procedural Background

Plaintiffs Angel Rodriguez, Agustín de Leon, and the unincorporated association called Water Quality Protection Coalition, (collectively, the “Coalition” or “Plaintiffs”), bring this citizen’s suit against the Municipality of Areeibo (the “Municipality”), invoking this court’s jurisdiction under § 505(a) of the Clean Water Act (“CWA” or the “Act”), 33 U.S.C.S. § 1365(a). Seeking declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, “the imposition of civil penalties,” as well as other remedies, the Coalition complains about the Municipality’s systematic discharge “of storm water into navigable waters.” Docket #14, ¶ 1.

Because the Court is ruling on a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), it [206]*206will draw the Coalition’s well-pleaded facts from its amended complaint. Feliciano-Hernandez v. Pereirco-Castillo, 663 F.3d 527, 529 (1st Cir.2011) (citation omitted), supplementing them with references to documents annexed to or fairly incorporated into it. Rederford v. U.S. Airways, Inc., 589 F.3d 30, 34 (1st Cir.2009).

La Marginal, Margara, and Duhamel are three well-known beaches in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Rodriguez and de Leon greatly enjoy these “surfing beaches in the Atlantic Ocean,” not least because they spend “extended periods of time in their waters.” Docket # 14, ¶ 6. For over seven years, the Municipality’s faulty storm sewer system (the “System”) has been aggravating the Coalition — as well as polluting the environment. Id., ¶ 7. According to the complaint, the System collects storm water and discharges it into several bodies of water. Id.

During heavy rains, the Municipality’s outfalls discharge storm water and raw sewage into La Marginal, Margara, and Duhamel. Such discharges, Plaintiffs explain, produce an “insupportable foul odor that forces” them to abandon and avoid these beaches altogether. Id., ¶ 8. The storm water discharges, which occur several times per month, directly affect Plaintiffs’ “recreational, aesthetic, and environmental interests.” Id. Pursuant to the Act, no discharge of storm water from a small municipal storm sewer system is authorized without complying with the terms of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”). Id., ¶ 11 (citing § 402(p) of the Act, 33 U.S.C.S. § 1342(p)).

The System is currently operated under NPDES permit # PPR040000 issued by the EPA on November 6, 2006 (the “Permit”). Id., ¶ 12. The Permit required the Municipality, among other things, to implement the following six minimum measures designed to reduce the discharge of pollutants from the System into navigable waters:

a) Implement and execute a public education program.
b) Include the public in the development, implementation and review of the storm water management program.
c) Develop, implement and enforce a program to detect and eliminate illicit discharges into its [System].
d) Develop, implement and enforce a program to reduce pollutants in any storm water runoff to its [System] from construction activities that result in a land disturbance of greater than or equal to one acre.
e) Develop, implement and enforce a program to address storm water runoff from new development and redevelopment project that disturb greater than or equal to one acre, including projects less than one acre that are part of a larger common plan of development or sale, that discharge into its [System]
f) Develop and implement an operation and maintenance program that includes a training component and has the ultimate goal of preventing or reducing pollutants runoff from municipal operations.

Id., ¶ 14 (citations omitted).

On February 7, 2008, and because of the Municipality’s total failure to comply with the Permit’s requirements, the EPA’s Administrator issued order CWA-2-2008-3112 (the “Order”). Docket # 14-1, p. 7. The Order imposed upon the Municipality a series of deadlines. First, the EPA gave the Municipality ten days to submit a Notice of Intent to seek the Permit. Second, the Municipality was given ninety-five days to “develop and commence implementing a Storm Water Management Pro[207]*207gram,” (the “Program”) and to send a copy of it to the EPA. Id., p. 9. Finally, the Municipality had to submit to the EPA a report detailing, among other things, the costs of the Notice of Intent and the Program.

According to the complaint, although almost' four years have passed since the Order’s issuance, it has fell on deaf ears; the Municipality has failed to comply with most of the aforementioned deadlines. Docket # 14, ¶ 4. As a consequence, on February 22, 2011, the Coalition gave notice of the foregoing violations and its intent to file suit to the EPA Administrator, the Administrator of the EPA Region II, the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, and the Municipality, as required by the CWA. Id., ¶3; see 33 U.S.C.S. § 1365(b)(1)(A).

The Coalition alleges that the Municipality continues to violate the Act and the Order, and that neither the EPA nor its Puerto Rico counterpart have done anything about it. Id., ¶ 4. On January 11, 2012, however, the EPA sent a letter to the Municipality (the “Letter”), stating that the Program submitted by it on November 14, 2011 “[h]as satisfactorily set in place the minimum control measures required under the [NPDES] and the [Permit].” Docket # 19-1 (emphasis added). It added, moreover, that the Municipality “[m]ust continue to implement the [Program] and comply with the administratively extended general permit....” Id.

Against this backdrop, on June 21, 2011, the Coalition filed the complaint giving rise to this action (Docket # 1). After the Municipality moved to dismiss (Docket # 9), plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on December 8, 2011 (Docket # 14). In it, they advance the following two claims for relief. First, the Coalition contends that the Municipality has failed to submit' the Program within ninety-five days of the Order’s issuance. Id., ¶¶ 21-27.1 And second, although over four years have elapsed since the Order’s issuance, the Municipality has yet to commence “[i]mplementing each of the six minimum control measures required under Part 4.2 of the Permit.” Id., ¶ 29. It alleges, furthermore, that the Municipality has likewise, failed to prepare an “annual review of [the] [Program].” And that these, as well as others instances of noncompliance, violate the Order.

On January 24, 2012, the Municipality moved to dismiss the amended complaint under both Fed.R.Civ.P. 12

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
858 F. Supp. 2d 203, 2012 WL 1512124, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61081, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/water-quality-protection-coalition-v-municipality-of-arecibo-prd-2012.