CSPA Advisory

CSPA Advisory June 28, 2010 

CSPA Sues Baldwin Contracting Company

By Bill Jennings, CSPA Executive Director
June 28, 2010 -- CSPA filed a lawsuit against the Baldwin Contracting Company, Inc., and BCJ Sand and Rock, Inc. for massive violations of the federal Clean Water Act and the state's General Industrial Stormwater Permit. Baldwin Contracting and BCJ Sand and Rock operate a 60-acre sand and gravel mining and processing facility near Oroville, California. The facility discharges pollutants to Sawmill Ravine Creek, which empties into Dry Creek, a tributary of Cottonwood Creek, and thence Butte Creek and ultimately the Sacramento River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

The lawsuit alleges that the facility illegally discharges vast quantities of total dissolved solids. It further alleges the facility has failed to: 1) develop and implement standard Best Available and Best Conventional Treatment Technologies, 2) develop and implement an adequate Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan and 3) develop and implement an adequate Monitoring and Reporting Program.

The action asks the court to: 1) declare the Baldwin Contracting Company and BCJ San and Rock to be in violation of the law, 2) enjoin defendant from discharging pollutants to surrounding waters, 3) enjoin defendant from further violating the substantive and procedural requirements of the permit, 4) order defendants to take appropriate action to restore the quality of waters impaired by their activities, 6) pay civil penalties for each day of violation and 7) award CSPA the costs of bringing the complaint.

The Law Offices of Andrew Packard and Jackson & Tuerck are CSPA's attorneys in this matter.

Read the lawsuit.