Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center

摘要

Federal district court had subject matter jurisdiction to review Clean Water Act citizen suit claims alleging timber companies violated act in not obtaining national pollutant discharge elimination system permits before discharging stormwater runoff from logging roads, because: (1) federal appeals court exclusive jurisdiction provisions of act only bar challenges to certain types of agency actions in district court and do not bar citizen suit claims to enforce obligations of act, and (2) claims are brought to enforce alleged violation of act under permissible reading of ambiguous rule defining discharges associated with industrial activity that require NPDES permits and do not seek implicit declaration that rule is invalid.