On 25 May 2012, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) filed a lawsuit against the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) over its extension of the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (ILRP) Waiver and the ILRP Program Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The lawsuit alleges that the Regional Board egregiously violated numerous laws and regulations, including: the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Porter-Cologne) and California’s Non-point Source Control and Antidegradation Policies.
The “waiver” exempts irrigated agriculture from having to obtain Waste Discharge Requirements for pollutant discharges to surface and ground waters. The Regional Board certified the EIR on 7 April 2011 and extended the waiver for two years on 9 June. CSPA/CWIN appealed the Regional Board actions to the State Board on 11 July 2011. The State Board failed to reverse the Regional Board actions.