California v. the Army

In the first such action anywhere, a state has hauled the Federal Government into court for polluting water. California last week sued the commanding general of Fort Ord for dumping undisinfected sewage into Monterey Bay. The suit, filed in the state superior court, asks civil penalties of $6,000 for every day since Jan. 1 for ignoring a cease-and-desist order that was issued against Fort Ord by a water-quality-control board. If the court agrees that the base continued to pollute the bay, the Army would face a fine of nearly $500,000.

Although President Nixon ordered all federal facilities to end pollution--or to have antipollution programs under way--by 1972, California was not about to wait for Fort Ord to police itself. Instead, it brought suit under a new state law that gives the state attorney general power to act directly against all water polluters. "The law is very clear and constitutional. The Army is in violation of it," says Chief Deputy Attorney General Charles A. O'Brien. "We are now going to use our authority to attempt to stop water pollution in the state of California. If we succeed, we will set a model for the country."

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