[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 9/4/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

September 4, 2008

 

4. Water Quality –

 

EPA to fine Cal Waste over water pollution

San Francisco Chronicle – 9/4/08

Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Federal regulators have charged a recycling company that serves Oakland and San Jose with repeatedly allowing trash, metal and oils to flow into Bay Area gutters and waterways in violation of the Clean Water Act.

 

On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is seeking fines totaling nearly a half million dollars from California Waste Solutions, a firm that handles curbside residential and commercial recycling in most of San Jose and the northwest portion of Oakland.

 

The agency contends dozens of storms over the last five years have pushed debris and chemicals from the company's three recycling facilities onto Oakland's waterfront and into Coyote Creek, a tributary to San Francisco Bay that is home to a type of steelhead trout listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The EPA said it has investigated California Waste Solutions over several years, and issued administrative orders aimed at correcting the problems in 2007.

In a statement, California Waste Systems said it places a "high value on compliance with environmental regulations." What's more, the 200-employee firm said it has taken significant steps since becoming aware of EPA's concerns in 2006, including hiring new managers, retaining consultants, retraining employees and implementing new procedures.

 

The company did not respond to requests for an interview.

 

In its complaint, the EPA accused California Waste of not creating a plan to prevent pollution runoff. Specifically, the company has neglected to cover storm drains and stored recyclable materials next to storm drains, increasing the likelihood that harmful materials wash into the bay, regulators said. This week, the EPA said it will levy fines of $157,500 on each of the company's three facilities.

 

Alexis Strauss, the director of the EPA's water division in San Francisco, called the firm's lack of compliance "unconscionable."

 

"Other businesses take great strides to be compliant," Strauss told a gathering of reporters at the EPA's San Francisco office. "There should be a level playing field."

This is not the first time California Waste Solutions has faced violations or been investigated. In 2005, Oakland fined the company $5,000 for contaminated runoff.

In June, city inspectors found problems at the company's Oakland facilities and asked California Waste Solutions to install new berms, increase street sweeping, clean up fluids and cover up collected metals. Inspectors with Oakland's Stormwater and Watershed Management Program will revisit the site within the next month.

Lesley Estes, manager of the Oakland program, said the company has worked with the city in the past to bring its operations into compliance, and expects the company to do so in this instance.

 

The Web site for California Waste Solutions describes it as a family business created by the Duong family, which operated a large Saigon paper mill seized by the government during the Vietnam War. After fleeing the country and spending two years in a relocation camp in the Philippines, the Duongs said they came to San Francisco in 1981 with virtually nothing and began collecting cardboard and other items - efforts that would grow their operation into one of the largest independent recycling companies in Northern California.#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/04/BALJ12NMAL.DTL