Stopping pollution at its source. Our lawsuit against the Port of LA

Environment California has gone to court to stop the Port of Los Angeles from continuing its serious and repeat violations of the Clean Water Act. The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere. It comprises over 7,500 acres of land and 43 miles of waterfront- with millions of containers coming and going over the course of the year. 

The Clean Water Act requires permitted facilities, like the Port, to monitor their discharges and to submit publicly available reports to the government with the results of that monitoring. Environment California’s analysis of these publicly available records indicated that the Port of LA violated its Clean Water Act Permit over 2,000 times since 2019, all at a single stormwater outfall.   

Californians love our beaches and our waterways. We use them for surfing and sailing, swimming and fishing. But too often the waterways downstream from the port of LA are impacted by illegal pollution. The water quality in the Harbor is notoriously bad. It isn’t safe for swimming, boating, or for the creatures that live in it. 

Each year, the Environment California Research and Policy Center publishes a “Safe for Swimming” report that shows the beaches in our state with the greatest percentage of days tested that were potentially unsafe due to fecal bacteria levels. Our report shows that Inner Cabrillo Beach, located just downstream of the Cerritos Channel near Long Beach, posed risks to swimmers on 44% of the days it was tested in 2022.  The pollution at issue in this lawsuit is by no means the only cause of these closures, but if we are going to improve the water quality, everybody needs to do their part.  

We expect city government to serve the public interest, including safeguarding city residents’ clean water, especially from someone like the Port who makes hundreds of millions of dollars every year in profits from fees charged to the largest shipping companies in the world. Unfortunately, the Port is an LA city department that has failed to take action to prevent pollution and instead continues serial and serious violations of the Clean Water Act. 

The city needs to set an example, and the Port cleaning up its act is the first step toward cleaning up the Harbor. Thats why we filed this lawsuit to stop the Port’s pollution and make sure our state’s beautiful beaches are safer for swimming, surfing and playing.