In the Courts

摘要

Hawai'i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui, No. 12-00198, (D. Haw. May 30, 2014). A district court held that a Hawaiian county illegally discharged wastewater into the ocean through groundwater injection wells in violation of the CWA. An environmental group sued the county, seeking to compel it to apply for and comply with the terms of an NPDES permit, and to pay civil penalties for its allegedly unlawful discharges. The county has since applied for an NPDES permit. It therefore argued the case should be dismissed or stayed pending the permit application process. But an application for an NPDES permit, without more, cannot justify a dismissal, much less a potentially lengthy or indefinite stay. Otherwise, a polluting entity would be able to spend years in litigation prior to even applying for an NPDES permit, then seek to stay proceedings for several more years during the pendency of a belatedly submitted application, all the while continuing to release pollutants in violation of the CWA.