Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 22, 2007
4. Water Quality
LOS OSOS:
County hoping progress on Osos sewer will mean no stop orders for residents; Supervisors aim to forestall stop orders against residents, an action favored by water board staff - San Luis Obispo Tribune
REGULATION:
Company to pay $5.3M for Suisun Marsh fuel spill -
LOS OSOS:
County hoping progress on Osos sewer will mean no stop orders for residents; Supervisors aim to forestall stop orders against residents, an action favored by water board staff
San Luis Obispo
By Sona Patel, staff writer
County officials are hoping their progress toward building a Los Osos sewer will influence state water-quality regulators to hold off pollution enforcement against residents of the seaside town.
The
Supervisors sent their letter days before a meeting where water officials were expected to determine how to proceed with disciplinary action against property owners whose septic systems are being blamed for polluting the groundwater and
All homes and businesses in Los Osos, a town of about 14,000, dispose of waste in septic systems because the community does not have a sewer. The water board wants a sewer built to halt the nitrate contamination.
The water board last year started issuing orders to individual property owners stating that they must hook up to a sewer when one becomes available or stop using their septic systems altogether by 2011.
“Our passion is that the water board can hold off on further enforcement actions until we get past the (property tax) vote,” said County Supervisor Bruce Gibson, whose
“I think that’ll give residents of Los Osos a better environment with less distraction,” Gibson said.
The county took over preliminary design and construction of a sewer earlier this year in a plan brokered by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, and approved by the state Legislature.
Gibson and Deputy Director of Public Works Paavo Ogren are preparing to make a presentation at a July water board meeting in
“If the board has questions about county’s (sewer) process they really need a full presentation,” Gibson said.
Water board staffers say they want to continue with stop orders because they would have no ready means of enforcement if the county decides not to move forward with the project.
Gibson deferred that possibility, saying the county is in a better position to work with the water board.
Water board members have agreed to hold off on future enforcement actions for now, hoping to be brought up to speed on the county’s efforts. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/46602.html
REGULATION:
Company to pay $5.3M for Suisun Marsh fuel spill
By Scott Marshall, MediaNews Group
The owner of a pipe-line that spilled nearly 124,000 gallons of diesel fuel into Suisun Marsh in 2004 has agreed to pay nearly $5.3 million to state and federal agencies for that and two other spills since, federal officials announced Monday.
Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP agreed to pay a $3.7 million civil penalty and $1.3 million to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state Department of Fish and Game.
The settlement will fund restoration in Suisun Marsh and
The settlement was entered in
Kinder Morgan said in a statement that the company also agreed to enhance spill prevention, response and reporting practices.
A year after the Suisun Marsh spill, a company subsidiary pleaded guilty to state criminal charges and agreed to pay a $5 million fine.
Federal regulators ordered Kinder Morgan to revise its procedures for preventing spills and analyze dozens of spills and ruptures, including an explosion in
The company had 44 spills in a 31-month period that indicated "a widespread failure to adequately detect and address the effects of outside force damage and corrosion," according to an order issued in August 2005 by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
All three spills in the consent agreement occurred on Kinder Morgan's 3,000-mile Pacific Operations Unit.
Besides the Suisun Marsh spill, the settlement covers the February 2005 spill of 76,902 gallons at
The pipeline that failed and fouled the 224-acre Suisun Marsh was replaced in 2004 in an expansion project and was routed outside of the marsh, according to Kinder Morgan.
The Suisun Marsh is the largest saltwater wetland in the western
The April 27, 2004, spill of 123,774 gallons tarred shorelines and affected or killed mammals and birds, including the salt marsh harvest mouse.
Kinder Morgan did not notify emergency responders or various agencies for 18 hours after pressure dropped in a rusting
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/todaysnews/ci_5958272
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