The EPA is accusing California of violating federal clean-water standards, just days after President Trump claimed that rampant homelessness in San Francisco contributed to pollution in the Pacific Ocean.
The agency is delivering an "oversight letter" to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday which says the state is not meeting its environmental obligations, in part because of the large number of homeless people in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“San Francisco, Los Angeles and the state do not appear to be acting with urgency to mitigate the risks to human health and the environment that may result from the homelessness crisis," EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler wrote in the letter.
The letter — first reported by the Washington Post- — gives California 30 days to respond.
During Trump's visit to California to raise money for his re-election campaign, he said that human waste and syringes wash into the ocean and warned that the EPA might intervene.
The EPA has also threatened to withhold federal highway funding over alleged state air-pollution violations.
California officials have put the blame on the EPA, saying the federal agency dragged its heels on approving air quality plans.
