Caltrans Sued Over Pollution : Environment: Lawsuit charges that state has done ‘virtually nothing’ to keep toxic runoff out of Santa Monica Bay.

An environmental group sued Caltrans on Thursday in the first of a series of legal actions planned to force industries and public agencies that pollute Santa Monica Bay to clean up toxic runoff.

The Natural Resources Defense Council alleges that Caltrans “has done virtually nothing” to keep chemicals and garbage from flowing into the bay from its 900 miles of roads and 35 maintenance centers in Los Angeles County.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, businesses and municipalities are issued permits and have been required since 1991 to take a series of pollution-prevention measures. But attorneys for the resources council said Caltrans is several years behind most of its deadlines and has made no attempt to capture the runoff with holding ponds, filters or other techniques.

“Caltrans is the single largest polluter (of Santa Monica Bay) under the permits, and its violations are egregious,” attorney Mitch Bernard said. “They have done a lot of mapping (of drainage areas), but when we asked them what they were doing in terms of stemming the pollution that comes from their roads, there was silence.”

Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid declined to comment on the allegations, but said the agency has been “working cooperatively for several years” with the region’s water board to try to comply with the law.

She said Caltrans has begun an education campaign about street runoff but would not discuss what else is planned. “We’re doing as much as we can,” Reid said.

Although the lawsuit focuses on the bay, Bernard alleges that Caltrans is violating the Clean Water Act throughout much of the state.

The council has notified seven municipalities, including Beverly Hills, Culver City, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach and Westlake Village, that it intends to file similar suits against them.