Water board waives fines against Boeing
Teresa Rochester
Ventura County Star
05/09/2009
Water regulators Friday waived fines for excess pollution in storm water runoff at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Simi Valley as had been requested by the land owner, Boeing Co.
The 4-2 vote by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board marked the second time in two years that it waived enforcement limits at two locations where rain drains off the field lab property and into the Los Angeles River and Arroyo Simi.
The board’s decision, made at its meeting in Ventura, means Boeing won’t face fines if runoff from the polluted former nuclear site and rocket-test facility contains excessive levels of contaminants. If that occurs, the company will be required to submit a plan of corrective action, which will be subject to review and approval by the water board’s staff.
Activists charge that the board’s vote fails to protect the community. They note that the board previously ordered Boeing to remove contaminated soil from the site, but the soil is still in place, as is the order.
The board’s vote Friday related to a requirement for Boeing to install ecologically friendly filtering systems at the field lab.
In 2007, the water board voted to suspend monitoring at the two runoff sites, known as outfalls eight and nine, and to allow the aerospace company time to put new filtering systems in place. Boeing was facing the prospect of having to comply with pollution limits and face fines if it exceeded those limits next month.
The additional time will give the company flexibility in determining “a strategy for dealing with those outfalls.” said Kamara Sams Holden, a Boeing spokeswoman.
Friday’s decision was met with anger and derision by community members, activists and political representatives, who accused the board of turning its back on residents while caving to a business.
“The community got sand kicked in their faces, again,” Louise Rishoff, district director for Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, said after the hearing. “Once again the community is being asked to trust the polluter to do the right thing. It’s not a good day.”
Some board members also expressed dismay, saying that the panel had come down harder on people contaminating the ocean.
However, board chair Mary Ann Lutz said the board is unified on what it wants to achieve, “the removal of contamination at the field lab and the protection of human health and water quality.”
