Opinion
IGNACIA S. MORENO, Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division U.S. Department of Justice PATRICIA L. HURST, Senior Counsel, Environmental Enforcement Section Washington, D.C. DANIEL S. HARRIS, Deputy Attorney General of the State of California. ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
JONATHAN D. SALMON, Attorney, Office of General Counsel, East Bay Municipal Utility District. Defendant in EBMUD. STEPHANIE GARRABRANT-SIERRA, Assistant City Attorney, Alameda City Attorney's Office. KENTON L. ALM Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver & Wilson. ZACHARY D. COWAN, Berkeley City Attorney. MICHAEL G. BIDDLE, Emeryville City Attorney. CELSO D. ORTIZ Deputy City Attorney, Oakland City Attorney's Office Defendants in Satellites. CHRISTOPHER A. SPROUL, Environmental Advocates. JASON R. FLANDERS, San Francisco Baykeeper. Intervenors.
STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER CONSOLIDATING RELATED CASES
RICHARD SEEBORG, District Judge.
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42, the parties to these two related cases, by and through their respective counsel, hereby stipulate as follows:
1. These cases involve common questions of law and fact concerning the Clean Water Act, the State of California's Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and their application to the sewer system in the wastewater service area of East Bay Municipal Utility District("EBMUD"), the defendant in Case No. C-09-0186-Rs (the "EBMUD case"). EBMUD owns and operates the wastewater treatment plant("WWTP")near the eastern end of the Bay Bridge, as well as the interceptor pipes("Interceptor")that transport wastewater to the WWTP and, during severe wet weather events, to three wet weather treatment facilities("WWFs").
2. The defendants in Case No. C-09-5684-RS (the "Satellites case") - the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Piedmont and the Stege Sanitary District, which serves the city of El Cerrito, Kensington and portions of the City of Richmond (collectively, the "Satellites") - own and operate the collection systems that collect wastewater and transport it to EBMUD's Interceptor.
3. These cases concern (a) discharges from the WWFs, (b)sanitary sewer overflows ("SSOs"), and (c) how best to address both. The parties are currently in negotiations designed to achieve a consensual resolution, but regardless of whether those negotiations succeed or the issues must be resolved by litigation, the parties agree that resolution is best achieved by a coordinated Order governing both EBMUD's and the Satellites' portions of the interconnected East Bay sewer system.
4 If the cases proceeded to trial separately, that would result in an unduly burdensome duplication of labor and expense. Consolidation is likely to save judicial resources.
5. Therefore, the parties jointly request that the Court consolidate the two actions for all purposes.
So Ordered.