Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 13, 2007
4. Water Quality
PERCHOLRATE:
Rialto water case in stall; Legal wrangling holds city back - San Bernardino Sun
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT:
Mexican water agency backs bid to build Bajagua plant - San Diego Union Tribune
PERCHOLRATE:
By Jason Pesick, staff writer
The long and winding road leading to cleanup of the drinking water around
On July 31, Goodrich Corp. sued
Next week, Emhart Industries - a defunct company associated with Black & Decker - Goodrich and Rialto-based Pyro Spectaculars are expected to ask a Los Angeles Superior Court to stay state hearings on the perchlorate contamination.
The legal efforts are the latest action the three companies have taken to thwart the state regulatory bodies trying to get the perchlorate cleaned up.
Perchlorate, a substance used to produce rocket fuel, fireworks and other explosives, has been flowing from
"What this is really about is Goodrich's attempt to deflect attention from its own responsibility for contaminating the groundwater," Cris Carrigan, one of
The State Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to hold hearings on the contamination - which was discovered in 1997 - later this month. The hearings have been delayed numerous times because of procedural objections raised by the three parties.
In the lawsuit against
Goodrich has also claimed that the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, whose staff will be arguing against the three companies at the hearings, has not lived up to its responsibility to close the pit properly.
Patrick Palmer, a Goodrich spokesman, said the parties responsible for the contamination should clean it up and that if the proper procedures had been followed in 1987, the perchlorate would have been discovered years earlier. By not pursuing Thompson at the state hearings,
"We're very disappointed in this matter, where only select responsible parties and very key facts are being ignored," Palmer said.
Carrigan and Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the
Thompson hasn't been a focus of the cleanup investigations thus far because he did not discharge perchlorate into the ground; he merely bought property from a party that did, said Scott Sommer,
Carrigan said it's not even clear what Goodrich wants the city to do and that the suit is just another attempt to outspend state agencies and
At last count,
The three parties being pursued in the state hearings have been criticized for using a number of aggressive legal strategies. One of the environmental groups involved in the hearings, the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, dropped out after being overwhelmed by how difficult the process had become.
In a letter to one of Goodrich's lawyers, Jeffrey Dintzer, the executive officer of the
At a Rialto City Council meeting on Wednesday, a woman - who identified herself as Donna Worley and claimed to be a concerned citizen - caused quite a stir when she went before the council to complain about the same matters contained in the Goodrich lawsuit. Earlier, she had provided The Sun with information about Thompson, in a letter calling the situation "just another case of the city helping the rich." At the meeting, she mentioned a potential recall of members of the council, prompting a vigorous response from the dais, especially from Councilman Ed Scott, who noted she lives in
In the other matter regarding potential court action in Los Angeles, on Tuesday, James Meeder, an attorney for Emhart, wrote a letter on behalf of all three companies saying that if the hearing officer of the state proceedings did not disqualify the state board and the regional board from the process, he would go to court to ask for a stay in the hearings.
The companies claim the
Hearing officer Tam Doduc ruled Saturday against the companies.
"I think their disqualification argument lacks merit, and it would be sad if the proceedings are stayed," Carrigan said.
Berchtold said allegations of bias or that the
If all else fails, a federal trial on the contamination is tentatively scheduled for October 2008. #
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_6609519
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT:
Mexican water agency backs bid to build Bajagua plant
By Mike Lee, staff writer
A
Bajagua LLC has long said the proposed facility would help reduce the amount of Mexican sewage that flows into the
Thursday, the company released a translated copy of a letter from
They also expressed “great interest” in seeing the $170 million construction plan move ahead, according to the translated letter.
The parcel – about 80 acres along the
Jim Simmons, the company's managing partner, hailed the news as a victory for clean water.
“There were those who have doubted
But it's still unclear whether Bajagua will get to build its facility.
The
Sally Spener, a spokeswoman for the boundary commission, said her agency is evaluating
In recent weeks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board said they supported upgrading the San Ysidro plant over building a facility in
Treatment upgrades are necessary because the boundary commission's plant in San Ysidro fails to meet Clean Water Act standards. A solution was supposed to be completed by September 2008, but the boundary commission recently said it can't meet that deadline.
Two federal court hearings will be held in coming weeks to sort out the debate about building the Bajagua plant or retrofitting the San Ysidro facility.
On Aug. 24, Bajagua's attorneys are expected to contend that the company should become an official party to the legal proceedings. At a Sept. 14 hearing, a central question will be which project – if any – should get the judge's blessing for a deadline extension. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070811/news_1m11bajagua.html
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