Environmental groups sue EPA to protect Bay salt ponds

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and four environmental groups have filed a pair of lawsuits in San Francisco federal court to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that salt ponds along the Bay near Redwood City are not federally protected waters.

The agency concluded on March 1 that the ponds are not U.S. waters subject to the Clean Water Act, which limits and regulates the amount of pollution discharged into the waters.