United States -- Pacific

The U.S. Pacific region includes Waterkeepers whose waterways drain to the Pacific Ocean, from Alaska to the U.S.-Mexico border. This region encompasses the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Northern California), the Intermountain Region (Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado), and Central and Southern California.

Major Victories:

• Columbia Riverkeeper  defeated two new coal-fired power plants on the Columbia River
• San Diego Coastkeeper filed lawsuits challenging three state agencies’ approval of the largest proposed desalination facility in the Western hemisphere. If built, the 50 MGD facility will take in 300 MGD of water from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon and contribute over 100,000 metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere.
• San Francisco Baykeeper won a landmark ruling that requires EPA to regulate vessel discharges nationwide and  keep invasive species out of local waters
• California Coastkeeper Alliance settled litigation against the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) for their failure to determine the flows needed to support fish and wildlife.
• Cook Inletkeeper responded to 6.3 million gallons of oil left at the Chevron oil terminal at the base of erupting Mt. Redoubt volcano.
• Humboldt Baykeeper successfully sued Simpson Timber Company for extensive dioxin contamination flowing to Humboldt Bay and was successful in the listing of Humboldt Bay as impaired under the Clean Water Act.
• Prince William Soundkeeper launched the Whole Truth campaign, drawing international media attention to ongoing ExxonValdez litigation and public scrutiny of Exxon’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 1989 ExxonValdez punitive damages judgment.