When it comes to the environment, Sunnyvale and Mountain View have a pretty green image, spending millions on bike lanes, solar energy and electric vehicle charging stations. But their tactics in an ongoing court case — in which their lawyers claimed major Bay Area creeks should not be protected from pollution under the federal Clean Water Act — are raising eyebrows among environmentalists. … The Clean Water Act is one of America’s landmark environmental laws. Passed by Congress in 1972, it prohibits the discharge of pollutants like chemicals, sewage, garbage and toxic waste into creeks, rivers, lakes and bays without a federal permit. In 2020, Baykeeper sued Sunnyvale and Mountain View, saying they have been violating the Clean Water Act for years by discharging raw sewage and polluted stormwater into creeks, sending bacteria pollution to levels more than 50 times legal limits.