Melissa A. Thorme

Melissa Thorme counsels industrial and municipal clients in addressing their environmental compliance challenges and negotiating or litigating their regulatory enforcement actions. With nearly 35 years’ experience, Melissa advises business entities, including food processors, lumber companies, agricultural companies, contractors, marinas and boat yards, auto dismantlers, small manufacturing companies, and oil field waste-produced water facilities, in addition to sanitation districts, counties, and cities throughout California on matters related to NPDES, wastewater, and recycled water discharge permitting and waivers, TMDLs, and enforcement actions brought by regulatory agencies or in Clean Water Act/Proposition 65 citizen suits. She assists with stormwater drainage matters for public agencies, vineyards, and food processing businesses.

Education

Tulane University Law School, LL.M., Energy and Environmental Law, 1992, with distinction

University of California, Davis School of Law, J.D., 1990

University of California, Davis, M.S., Graduate Group in Ecology, 1988

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, B.S., Environmental and Systematic Biology, 1985, cum laude

Admissions

California 

• Challenged the water quality standards for salinity applicable in the Southern Delta in state court on behalf of a Central Valley city and succeeded in receiving a writ of mandate instructing the State Water Resources Control Board to review and revise the standards in accordance with state law, namely Water Code sections 13241 and 13242.
• Successfully prosecuted an industrial discharger before the Steering Committee of a southern California Sanitation District that violated local ordinances and its sewer use permit, securing substantial administrative penalties and permit revocation.
• Settled a $4 million initial Administrative Civil Liability Complaint for Mandatory Minimum Penalties (MMPs) for a small mutual water company in Lake County for a suspended penalty amount of $2.8 million that was completely expunged after the client converted its company into a nonprofit and received over $2.5 million in State grant funds to be spent on upgrading its drinking water treatment plant.
• Settled three different enforcement actions by two Regional Water Boards and one County District Attorney against an agricultural operation for alleged unlawful discharges during storm events that funded two large Supplemental Environmental Projects to provide clean drinking water to nearby homes and rehabilitate creek beds.
• Succeeded in extricating the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a county, a city, a sanitation agency, and at least two industrial stormwater clients from Clean Water Act citizen suits without any litigation or the need for a settlement and settled numerous other cases for industrial and municipal clients in stormwater and sewer spill cases.
• Settled a proposed Administrative Civil Liability of over $1 million for a single sewer spill for $130,000, plus $120,000 in suspended penalties if the small Central Valley city completes Enhanced Compliance projects to avoid future spills.
• Tried a multiple-week breach of contract case in Federal district court for a public utilities district in Southern California and received a decision finding bad faith breach of contract. The case involved numerous issues relating to engineering, water quality, and regulatory requirements under state and federal law.
• Drafted amicus curiae briefs for the League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties, and the National League of Cities before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Natural Resources Defense Council v. Los Angeles County Flood Control District case (USSC Case No. 11-460) and in support of additional review (USSC Case No. 13-901).
• Challenged U.S. EPA’s approval and disapproval of water quality standards in the Los Angeles Region in Federal court and succeeded in removing the municipal drinking water (MUN) use from waterways in that region that had only been conditionally designated and gaining clarity on regulating using narrative water quality objectives.
• Appealed NPDES permits for the cities of Burbank and Los Angeles all the way to the California Supreme Court in the City of Burbank v. State Water Resources Control Board case, which resulted in a ruling requiring the Water Boards to perform additional state law analysis if requirements more stringent than required by federal law are included in discharge permits. Have done dozens of other permit appeals, many of which are placed in abeyance.
• Represented a Central Coast wastewater treatment plant in a 17-hour adjudicatory hearing before the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board over a million-dollar Administrative Civil Liability Complaint related to a sewer spill during a declared flood emergency. The matter was ultimately settled.
• Specialized knowledge in water quality based on a solid science background, which provides a unique understanding of chemical, biological, and ecological ramifications of water quality policies and regulations, as well as a clear understanding of the regulations and their history.
• Substantial Federal court litigation experience, including discovery, taking and defending fact and expert witness depositions, briefing, and oral advocacy.
• Extensive State court experience, including writ practice in Superior Courts and substantial appellate advocacy experience briefing and arguing cases before California Appellate Courts and the California Supreme Court as counsel to parties and amicus curiae.
• Negotiated scores of achievable NPDES permits for municipal and industrial stormwater and wastewater discharges throughout California, as well as agricultural waivers, Section 404 permits, 401 Certifications, and waste discharge requirements (WDRs) for biosolids, dredging projects, and other waste discharges.
• Administratively and judicially challenged unlawful or unreasonable provisions in numerous NPDES permits for publicly owned treatment plants and municipal separate storm sewer systems where reasonable permits could not be negotiated.
• Defended and settled administrative NPDES permit enforcement actions and MMP actions related to water quality and citizen suits filed under the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservative and Recovery Act against municipal and industrial clients. Several enforcement defense matters resulted in no penalty or a substantially reduced penalty to the client.
• Commented on, negotiated the terms of, or litigated several Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), including for chloride, trash, nitrogen, bacteria, mercury, and pesticides, and Site Specific Objectives (SSOs), including for copper, nickel, and cyanide.
• Successfully litigated California Environmental Quality Act cases, including one in Federal court. In other situations, helped draft environmental documents that were never challenged.

Insights & Presentations

• “Clean Water Act at 50: What’s Next for California Clean Water Laws?” webinar hosted by California Water Environment Association (CWEA), October 5, 2022
• “What To Know For The Next Wet Season And Beyond,” Storm Water Awareness Week Webcasts, September 28–29, 2016
• “Use of Recycled Oil Field Wastewater for Irrigation of Food Crops” (co-presenter), Tchobanoglous Water Lecture, April 7, 2016
• “History of Monticello Dam” (moderator), Celebrate Putah Creek Conference, April 3, 2016
• “The Battle Over Chronic Toxicity Testing,” ACWA Water Quality Committee Meeting, February 2016
• “Status of Stormwater Regulation in California, State Bar of California,” Environmental Law News, Vol. 23, No. 2, Fall 2014
• “Industrial Stormwater Issues,” California League of Food Processors, December 15, 2014
• “Clean Water Act Liability,” CWEA Operators Conference, October 15, 2014
• “Stormwater Showdown,” Citizen Suit Enforcement—Stormwater Awareness Week, September 15, 2014
• “Legal Update on Storm Water Regulation,” League of California Cities, 2014 City Attorneys’ Spring Conference, May 20, 2014
• “Consumer Advocacy Group, Inc. Issues Prop 65 Notices to Grocers Alleging Presence of Arsenic in Rice,” California Grocers Association, Online Newsletter, March 2014
• “Complying with Storm Water Requirements,” Association of General Contractors Legal Meeting, February 2014
• “Cross-Disciplinary Issues Related to the Regulation of Wastewater Storm Water,” Downey Brand CLE, January 2014

• Named by Best Lawyers^® as Water Law “Lawyer of the Year,” Sacramento, 2018
• Included in The Best Lawyers in America^® (Water Law, Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law), 2008–present
• Listed in Northern California Super Lawyers^® (Environmental Litigation), 2006, 2012–2013, 2016–2022, 2024
• Listed in Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers, 2015–2022
• AV Preeminent^® Peer Review Rating^™ from Martindale-Hubbell
• The Martindale-Hubbell^® Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers^™
• Included in Best Lawyers “Women in the Law,” 2016
• Recipient of two LiFE awards for environmental literature
• Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest, Winner
• LEXIS Excellence in Writing Award, Winner

Professional

• American Bar Association, 1991–present
• California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA), Attorneys Committee and Federal Legislative Committee
• Central Valley Clean Water Association, associate member
• California Department of Real Estate, Salespersons License 1986–2019, Broker License since 2019
• California Lawyers Association, Environmental Law Section
• Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), Clean Water Subcommittee and TMDL Workgroup, former chair
• Sacramento River Toxic Pollutant Control Program Subcommittees, former facilitator

Civic

• California Association of Sanitation Agencies, Board of Directors, 2024–present
• Santa Lucia Preserve Community Service District, Board of Directors, 2019–present
• Putah Creek Council, Board of Directors 2015–2019
• Norwood 4-H Club (Yolo County), community club leader, 2012–2014; 4-H project leader, 2004–2015
• Riparian Improvement Organization (RIO), former president