In the News . . .

Charlie Tebbutt’s enforcement of environmental laws on behalf of people and the environment is regularly featured in the news nationwide. Here are some recent highlights.

SMA, PacifiCorp reach settlement on Silver Bell tailings, deal sets out plan of monitoring, amending tailings impoundment, Telluride Daily Planet, April 12, 2013.
Telluride environmental organization Sheep Mountain Alliance (SMA) and Oregon-based utility company PacifiCorp have reached a settlement agreement over the Silver Bell tailings impoundment, an old tailings site that was found leaking pollutants into a tributary of the San Miguel River. The agreement, which was reached collaboratively between the parties, lays out a plan of monitoring and improving the remediation at the site, and calls for PacifiCorp to donate $150,000 to a local watershed restoration project. SMA was represented by the law offices of Charlie Tebbutt. Read the full story . . .

Oregon: Groups Give Notice of Suit Over Coal Dust, New York Times, April 2, 2013.
An environmental coalition on Monday charged that coal and coal dust spilled from railroad hoppers is polluting the scenic Columbia River Gorge, and pledged to sue mining companies and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad if they do not halt the spills. Read the full story . . .

BNSF Railway, Coal Shippers Receive Notice of Intent to Sue for Coal Contamination in Waterways. Coal export proposals would worsen existing water pollution.
The Sierra Club and its partners, represented by the Law Offices of Charlie Tebbutt, sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) and several coal companies for violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The Sierra Club, Puget Soundkeeper, Columbia Riverkeeper, RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, and Friends of the Columbia Gorge have found evidence that the companies are responsible for emitting coal into waterways in many locations across Washington. By BNSF’s own figures, the four daily coal trains travelling through Washington heading to Canada or to the state’s last remaining coal plant combine to lose a staggering 120 tons of coal dust per day. Local residents and conservation groups are concerned that the problem will only worsen if coal companies receive approval to move forward with their hotly contested plan to develop five coal export sites in Washington and Oregon, which could send an additional 60 trains through Washington daily.    Read the Oregonian article, April 2, 2013 . . .       Read the press release . . .

Five Valley Dairies Agree to Reduce Nitrate Levels, Yakima Herald, Mar. 6. 2013.
Five Yakima Valley dairies located north of Granger have agreed to take a number of steps to reduce nitrate levels in groundwater under a legally binding agreement with the federal government that also requires them to assure their neighbors have safe drinking water. Critics of dairy practices and the way the facilities are regulated said the agreement only reinforces the use of failed strategies that will not solve the contamination and will continue to put Lower Valley residents at risk, according to Charlie Tebbutt, a Eugene, Ore., environmental attorney. “If any other industry were doing what this industry is doing, they would be required to remediate and if they couldn’t prove they would stop contaminating, they would be shut down,” Tebbutt said. “The dairy industry is being given a free pass to continue to contaminate.”     Read the full story . . .         Download a pdf . . .

Environmental groups sue 4 Lower Valley dairies in federal court, Yakima Herald, Feb. 15. 2013.
Outlook-based Community Association for the Restoration of the Environment, or CARE, and the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court against four dairies for manure-handling practices they say constitutes “open dumping” and violating three federal statutes that require reporting the release of hazardous chemicals. In October, the groups sent notices of intent to sue to the dairies, starting a 90-day clock to give the facilities a chance to change their operations, namely by lining manure storage lagoons and limiting the application of fertilizer, including liquid manure. “The main objective is changing the practices,” said Charlie Tebbutt, the Eugene, Ore., attorney representing CARE, which the groups allege contaminate drinking water. The suits also allege the dairies are in violation of federal law requiring them to report the release of hazardous airborne pollutants, including ammonia, to various state and federal agencies.
Read the full story . . .         Read the press release . . .         Read the Cow Palace Complaint (8 MB)

Court revives call for BP oil spill pollutant list, Associated Press, Jan. 11, 2013.
A federal appeals court has revived an environmental group's lawsuit to make BP PLC list the amount and type of every pollutant that got into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 oil spill. But it upheld a judge's decision that the rest of the Center for Biological Diversity's lawsuit became legally irrelevant when BP capped the well. Read the full story . . .

Bison Group’s Victory Affects All U.S. Public Records Requests, Environment News Service, Jan. 3, 2013.
The nonprofit bison advocacy group Buffalo Field Campaign and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have reached a settlement that requires the agency to process and respond to Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, requests from citizens nationwide in a “timely” manner. "Prompt public access to government records is a necessary ingredient for a healthy, transparent democracy,” says Daniel Snyder, an attorney with the Law Offices of Charles M. Tebbutt, P.C. who represented Buffalo Field Campaign in its lawsuit. “Timely access is even more critical here, where the records sought by Buffalo Field Campaign illuminate the federal government's deplorable treatment of Yellowstone's threatened wild buffalo population. The new procedures APHIS must implement nationwide as a result of this lawsuit should result in the punctual disclosure of records requested by the public."
Read the full story . . .         Read the press release . . .

Environmental groups look to sue dairies over groundwater, Yakima Herald, Oct. 19, 2012.
Environmental groups say they will sue five Lower Valley dairies in federal court for allegedly contaminating local drinking water supplies unless the operators take steps to stop the contamination "and begin to make amends for the damage they have already caused." The environmentalists have enlisted Public Justice, a public interest law firm with a network of trial attorneys across the country, and longtime Eugene, Ore., environmental attorney Charlie Tebbutt. Read the full story . . .

EPA report points at dairies as likely source of nitrate contamination, Yakima Herald, Sept. 28, 2012.
A long-awaited federal study released by the Environmental Protection Agency points at five Yakima Valley, WA dairies calling them "likely" sources of nitrates contaminating residential drinking water wells. The 307-page report concludes action is needed, but that it could take years to reduce nitrate levels in the wells to safe levels due to the extent of contamination in the Lower Valley. The EPA sampled 331 wells and found 20 percent had nitrate levels above federal drinking water standards. The report singles out five dairies, including several whose lagoons it estimates have leaked between 4 and 44 millions of gallons of manure wastewater into the underlying soil and aquifer each year. The study reserved the strongest blame for dairies, naming Haak Dairy, and a cluster of others — George DeRuyter and Sons Dairy, Cow Palace, Liberty Dairy and Bosma Dairy, located north of Granger. Read the full story . . .

Headwaters of the Amazon Saved, Again, Eugene Weekly, Sept. 27. 2012.
This week Southeast Neighbors announced that an independent land use hearings official in Eugene has rejected a proposal to construct the 75-lot Deerbrook PUD (planned unit development) in the sensitive Amazon headwaters. According to Dan Snyder, attorney for Southeast Neighbors, there are many inherent problems with developing the property, from the presence of the headwaters to the steep slopes. Snyder says another key point is that “it is the Amazon headwaters, an outstanding natural resource that the city should be protecting, not turning over to the developers to turn into upper-scale homes.” Read the full story . . .
Eugene Weekly, Sept. 27, 2012
KLCC, Sept. 25, 2012

Happening People - Charlie Tebbutt, Eugene Weekly, April 12, 2012.
After graduation from SUNY Albany, Charlie spent five years working with the group Save the River to protect the St. Lawrence River. “I realized I needed more tools to be effective as an activist,” says Tebbutt, who entered Syracuse Law School, got his degree in 1987, then joined the Atlantic States Legal Foundation, suing corporations for violating environmental regulations. “It’s what I do today.”
Read the full story . . .

PNM reaches settlement with Sierra Club, lawsuit centers on threat of coal ash contaminating San Juan River, Associated Press, March 28, 2012.
A two-year legal battle over the disposal of millions of tons of coal combustion waste in northwestern New Mexico is on the verge of settlement with a $10.2 million agreement announced by the Sierra Club, a BHP Billiton mining company and the state's largest electric utility. The settlement calls for about $8 million to be spent on structures that would prevent any contaminants from reaching the San Juan River as well as other environmental remediation projects. Read the full story . . .

Ag officials dispute conflict of interest concerns over dairy oversight, Yakima Herald, March 28, 2012.
A federal judge's stern rebuke of a Royal City dairy that violated an agreement to clean up its manure-management practices contrasts with the high marks state agriculture inspectors gave the same facility, raising questions about the thoroughness of state inspections, long criticized by environmental activists. The widely divergent views of the dairy and its manure-management practices raise an old question: Can the Agriculture Department fulfill its twin statutory goals of promoting agriculture while also protecting the public? Environmentalists say it's the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse. Agriculture officials say they can do both. Read the full story . . .

Idaho High Court Hears Big Sky Farms Lawsuit Appeal, Twin Falls Times-News, Feb. 12, 2012.
Five years have passed since a 13,000-animal feedlot in eastern Jerome County was proposed, spawning a battle between a private developer and supporters of a national historic site who called into question whether the county followed its own rules when originally granting the permits for the feedlot. Eugene, Ore., attorney Charlie Tebbutt told the court the county failed to follow its own ordinances in approving the proposal, and even changed its policy to thwart due process for people who hoped to testify against the feedlot. Read the full story . . .

Judge: Royal City dairy contaminated water, Seattle Times, Jan. 5, 2012.
A federal judge has ruled that an Eastern Washington industrial dairy that has been the subject of air and water pollution complaints for years consistently applied excessive amounts of manure to neighboring fields, causing or contributing to groundwater contamination in the area. Read the full story . . .

Victory! Judge finds industrial CAFO to have contaminated groundwater, Dec. 30, 2011.
The Nelson Faria Dairy in Eastern Washington has been found to have "caused or significantly contributed to the excessive nitrate contamination of the local groundwater." On behalf of the Community Association For Restoration of the Environment (CARE) we went to trial in mid-November and were rewarded with an excellent opinion from Judge Suko. In addition to groundwater contamination the Judge's Memorandum Decision discusses Faria's poor manure management practices, poor facility maintenance, decision to operate without an NPDES permit and failure to comply with the existing Consent Decree - a settlement agreement in place as a result from an earlier suit against the Dairy. Read the full opinion . . .

Study connects large-scale dairies, feedlots to increased air pollution, Yakima Herald, Dec. 16, 2011.
A recent scientific study that took place in the Yakima Valley has linked large-scale dairies and animal feed lots to air pollution. "This study is one among a growing body of evidence that air pollution from large dairies and other concentrated animal feeding operations pose as much or even more health risks than the issues of both surface and groundwater," said attorney Charlie Tebbutt. Read the full story . . .

Environmental group wins judgment, judge awards Eugene-based E-LAW $33,000 in
compensation in a legal challenge involving Chevron,
Register Guard, Dec. 8, 2011.
A small local environmental organization has successfully stared down the world’s 10th-largest corporation — Chevron — in a legal battle. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin ruled last week that Chevron has made “unduly burdensome” demands for potential evidence from Eugene-based E-LAW — the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. The judge also found that “harassment” seemed at least part of Chevron’s motive for serving E-LAW Executive Director Bern Johnson with a legal order that required him to submit to a day of questioning under oath by Chevron lawyers. Read the full story . . .

EPA meets court deadline for pesticide general permit, industry still keen on legislative fix, Pesticide & Chemical Policy, Nov. 4, 2011.
""These permits will reduce pesticide use with benefit to human health and the environment and without duplicative regulation because FIFRA and the Clean Water Act are fundamentally different statutes that do fundamentally different things,” says attorney Charlie Tebbutt."
Read the full story . . .

Sheep Mountain Alliance Puts Silver Bells Owner on Notice, October 12, 2011.
Sheep Mountain Alliance formally notified Oregon-based utility company PacifiCorp and Silver Bell owner that it will initiate a citizen enforcement action under the Clean Water Act to stop the pollution of the San Miguel River. PacifiCorp owns and maintains the Silver Bell tailings remediation site and has allowed the site to discharge heavy metals, acidic drainage, and effluent solids into the Howard Fork of the San Miguel between October 2006 and the present. "Because of the persistent and ongoing nature of these violations, we have every reason to expect that PacifiCorp's pollution will keep endangering the San Miguel River unless we take a strong stance and make it clear that the site must be cleaned up immediately and all the water quality violations corrected," said Hilary White, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance. Read the press release . . .

Residents Object to Aerial Spray, Eugene Weekly, Sept. 15, 2011.
A recent helicopter spraying of toxic herbicides by Giustina Land and Timber has upset nearby residents who say the company ignored a request to notify them 12 hours in advance. “Chemical invasions of people’s bodies and homes should not be allowed in Oregon,” says Eugene attorney Charlie Tebbutt who delivered a letter to the company asking Giustina to refrain from aerial spraying and asking for a dialogue about the spray with the community. Read the full story . . .

BP asks judge to dismiss spill suits, Houston Chronicle, May 27, 2011.
"Environmentalists and lawyers for spill victims told Judge Barbier that none of the economic-damage claims or defendants should be dismissed at this stage of the litigation. They asked him to allow all claims to proceed to trial." Read the full story . . .

PESTICIDES: EPA plans July release of double permitting requirements,
E&E Daily, April 27, 2011.
"The EPA proposal is also coming under fire from environmental groups. Charlie Tebbutt, a lawyer who has represented green groups' interests in several pesticide cases, said the proposed general permit "still doesn't address the issues." "The big issue here is, are we protecting our nation's water?" he said. "And the answer is: Absolutely not."" Read the full story . . .

BP's criminal negligence exposed, Al Jazeera, April 20, 2011.
"One year after BP's Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, the number of lawsuits against the oil giant continues to mount. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is a group that uses the law to protect the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive. CBD has an unparallelled record of legal successes, with 93 per cent of their lawsuits having resulted in favourable outcomes. And, now they are suing BP for $19 billion."  Read the full story . . .

Pesticide Industry Ramps Up Lobbying in Bid to Pare EPA Rules,
New York Times, February 24, 2011.
“The pesticide industry is applying extra doses of lobbying in an effort to eradicate federal requirements it considers harmful. "They have a lot of power," said Charlie Tebbutt, an attorney who has represented environmental groups in lawsuits where pesticide groups sought exemption from Clean Water Act rules. "The public needs to know what they're doing behind the scenes here. What they're doing is against the public interest."”   Read the full story . . .

Clean Water vs. Pesticides, Repubs vs. Dems, Eugene Weekly, February 24, 2011.
“The meeting was made up of the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture, Committee on Agriculture; and the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The hearing was called to discuss H.R. 6273, a bill which would which would amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to exempt the application of pesticides from certain permit requirements under the Clean Water Act.”  
Read the full story . . .

Federal Government Files Clean Water Act Lawsuit Against BP - Suit Is First Against BP Focusing on Clean Water Act Violations Since Center for Biological Diversity's $19 Billion Suit in June, December 15, 2010.
“We’ve been waiting for months for the federal government to file suit against BP for the devastating oil spill in the Gulf,” said Charlie Tebbutt, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “With all the players now at the table, we look forward to co-prosecuting this case with the federal government to hold BP accountable for the worst environmental disaster in American history.”  
Read the full story . . .

GULF SPILL: Justice Department lawsuit against BP imminent, Greenwire, December 15, 2010.
"The Obama administration is finally ready to pull the trigger on its long-awaited lawsuit over the massive Deepwater Horizon spill. Charles Tebbutt, an attorney with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, which has filed its own lawsuit against BP and Transocean, said the case was "a slam-dunk on liability.""  Read the full story . . .

Tests warned of cement problems before well's blowout; BP and Halliburton were aware of them but used it anyway, Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2010.
"Weeks before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, oil company BP and subcontractor Halliburton were aware of test results showing that the cement mixture designed to seal the well was unstable — but they used it anyway, President Obama's special commission investigating the environmental disaster reported Thursday. Legal experts said the information could bolster plaintiffs' cases in the multitude of spill-related lawsuits by helping to show that BP acted with gross negligence leading up to the spill. "There's no question that it's important evidence," said Charlie Tebbutt, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which has filed a lawsuit seeking $19 billion under the Clean Water Act. "It serves to confirm the previous reports of significant problems with the exploration and production of the well."  Read the full story . . .

GULF SPILL: BP judge to decide whether to split government, private claims, Greenwire, October 25, 2010.
The federal judge presiding over mammoth litigation surrounding the BP PLC oil spill will hold a hearing this week on whether to split the case into two tracks so government enforcement claims would be handled separately from lawsuits filed by private plaintiffs. The Center for Biological Diversity has requested that it be part of the government track if the judge decides to take that route. CBD attorney Charles Tebbutt said his organization's suit should be included in the government track because the claims are analogous to the civil enforcement action the government is expected to file. "We are acting in the shoes of the government," he said. The group has the authority to do so under "citizen suit" provisions in the Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. 
Read the full story . . .

Department of Justice expects to sue oil companies in gulf spill, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14, 2010.
The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it expected to file a civil suit against the oil companies involved in the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for violation of federal environmental laws. "The potential downside is that if the government feels they should proceed on their own track, there may be information they decide not to make publicly available," said Charlie Tebbutt, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, referring to the federal investigations into the potential civil and criminal liability of the companies being sued. "One of our jobs is to make sure all information gets to the public."  Read the full story . . .

Gulf oil spill victims applaud choice of New Orleans court, Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2010.
“We are pleased that the case will be heard in the area that has been most impacted by the BP disaster," said Charlie Tebbutt, an Oregon lawyer representing the Center for Biological Diversity in its suit under the Clean Water Act seeking as much as $19 billion in compensation.”   Read the full story . . .

Epic legal battle over oil spill is about to begin, Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2010.
“Charlie Tebbutt, a Eugene, Oregon attorney representing the Center for Biological Diversity in its suit alleging violations of the Clean Water Act, said he was pursuing the maximum penalties against BP and Transocean of $4,300 per barrel of oil spilled into the gulf. He estimates the bill could be $20 billion, "if we can prove gross negligence or willful misconduct, which we expect should be relatively easy to prove in this case.”   Read the full story . . .

Lawsuit Seeks $19 Billion in Clean Water Act Penalties From BP, June 18, 2010.
“The government has yet to take any criminal or civil actions against BP,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “We filed this suit to ensure BP is held accountable for every drop of oil and pollution it has released into the Gulf of Mexico. We can’t bring back dead sea turtles, dolphins and whales, but we can ensure BP is penalized to the full extent of the law for causing the worst environmental disaster in American history.”   Read the full story . . .

Local Lawyer Files BP Lawsuit, June 10, 2010.
The Center for Biological Diversity and local attorney Charlie Tebbutt filed a notice of intent to sue BP under the Clean Water Act. Tebbutt says, “We hear a lot about the oil but not the massive amounts of toxic chemicals in the oil. BP knows which and how much of these toxic substances are in the oil but hasn’t made that public. Residents and clean-up workers are exposed to these toxic compounds without knowing what they are and how much they are breathing,” he says.   Read the full story . . .

Proposed pesticide rules get scrutiny, June 7, 2010.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published a draft of new rules regarding pesticide use. The proposed rules, to be finalized by the end of the year, limit pesticides in or near water and are a reversal for the EPA, which in 2007 concluded that pesticides were exempt from the permitting requirements of the Clean Water Act.  Read the full story . . .

Judge Hears Argument in Minidoka Lawsuit, April 29, 2010.
At last week’s hearing on the merits of the case, our attorney, Charlie Tebbutt, presented a compelling argument on behalf of preservation of the National Historic Site. Tebbutt concisely summarized the serious procedural irregularities in the County’s review process that led to approval of the largest animal feeding operation in Jerome County history.  Read the full story . . .

PNM, San Juan Coal Sued over Coal Ash Dumping, April 8, 2010.
The Sierra Club filed suit against the San Juan Coal Company and PNM, alleging that the dumping of ash and sludge from the power generating station into unlined pits is polluting the groundwater and causing damage to human health, livestock and wildlife.  Read the full story . . .

Supremes Say No To Pests, February 25, 2010.
Pro-pesticide forces met with defeat Feb. 22 in their attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the application of pesticides to waterways without a Clean Water Act permit.  Read the full story . . .

Court Pass on Pesticide Dispute Alarms Industry, February 25, 2010.
Up until now, agriculture has taken a "Wild West" approach to applying pesticides, with regulations allowing applicators to "shoot first and ask questions later," said Charles Tebbutt, an attorney representing the Baykeeper environmental group.  Read the full story . . .

Interview with Animal Factory author David Kirby and Charlie Tebbutt on KLCC Public Radio, February 24, 2010.
Hear radio interview with Animal Factory author David Kirby and Charlie Tebbutt on KLCC Public Radio. Kirby will keynote at the 28th annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon School of Law, Saturday, February 27, 7pm.  Listen to the interview . . .

Legal questions abound over pesticide inert ingredient disclosure, February 22, 2010.
Although pesticide manufacturers must currently disclose to EPA the inert ingredients in their products, the agency generally does not require those ingredients to be listed on the product label.  Charlie Tebbutt, an environmental lawyer . . . says “The public is the last to know — disclosure would allow them to make more informed choices.”  Read the full story . . .

Group Seeks Clean Up of Open Pit Coal Ash Dump, December 10, 2009.
The San Juan Coal Company has dumped more than 40 million tons of coal combustion waste containing pollutants like arsenic, lead and mercury into massive unlined pits at the San Juan Mine. As a result, toxins from the coal ash have leaked into nearby waterways and wells, endangering local residents, livestock, and wildlife.  Read the full story . . .

Coalition Asks EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gases and Other Toxic Air Pollutants From Factory Farms, September 21, 2009.
A coalition of environmental and public health organizations filed a legal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency seeking to regulate air pollution from factory farms. "The people who live in the communities devastated by unregulated air pollution from animal factories deserve protection" said Charlie Tebbutt.  Read the full story . . .

Editorial Sketchbook: Celebrating safer, cleaner air in Oregon's field burning Sacrifice Zone, August 13, 2009.
More than 200 guests came from all over Oregon's Sacrifice Zone -- small communities like Junction City, Harrisburg, Alvadore, Coburg and Brownsville -- to celebrate their historic legislative victory. They had been the backbone of a citizen campaign to persuade Oregon lawmakers to put an end to a half-century of open burning of grass seed fields in the southern Willamette Valley. 
Read the full story . . .

Dairies' discharge at issue in court, Yakima Herald, January 14, 2009.
If the state doesn't look for groundwater contamination by dairies and other large-scale animal farms, it won't find any. But studies show it's there. That's how attorney Charlie Tebbutt summed up his arguments Tuesday before the state Court of Appeals.  Read the full story . . .