Rialto Water Case in Stall (San Bernardino Sun 08132007) Legal Wrangling Holds City Back!!!.....

Rialto water case in stall

Legal wrangling holds city back

Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 08/13/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

The long and winding road leading to cleanup of the drinking water around Rialto is getting more tortuous.

On July 31, Goodrich Corp. sued Rialto and other parties in San Bernardino Superior Court to try to force the city to require a local businessman to clean up perchlorate contamination.

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 Rialto's north end through the city, and possibly into Colton and toward Fontana. Perchlorate can interfere with the thyroid gland, which is important in the development of unborn babies.

"What this is really about is Goodrich's attempt to deflect attention from its own responsibility for contaminating the groundwater," Cris Carrigan, one of Rialto's lawyers, said about the suit against the city.

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 Rialto, Goodrich claims Rialto is obligated to order Ken Thompson, who owns land where perchlorate has been discovered, to clean up the contamination. It also says Rialto needs to enforce its own 1987 declaration requiring Thompson to clean up the area known as the McLaughlin Pit.

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, Rialto and the Santa Ana board staff are failing to go after one of the responsible parties, Goodrich claims.

"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 Santa Ana water board, both said their agencies have done nothing wrong and that Thompson might still be pursued in the future.

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, Rialto's lead attorney in the perchlorate matters. So far, the state regulatory agencies have focused on pursuing the parties suspected of actually discharging perchlorate. Any perchlorate he did spread by operating on the site was spread unknowingly because the perchlorate hadn't even been discovered there yet, Sommer said.

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 Rialto by using clever legal tactics.

At last count, Rialto has spent about $15 million on its efforts to investigate the perchlorate and take legal action. As that number has risen, dissatisfaction with the city's legal strategy has mounted.

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 Santa Ana board, Gerard Thibeault, said the parties' legal efforts cost the state $954,000 and 9,430 hours in staff and attorney time in the 2006-07 fiscal year, and the costs are still growing.

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 Burbank and accused her of working for Goodrich.

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 Santa Ana board's staff and the state board have taken part in improper communications or are biased against them because the state board handed out grants to local agencies to treat perchlorate. They have also claimed bias on the grounds that the Santa Ana board's staff erred in its handling of the closing of the McLaughlin Pit and is itself therefore partially responsible. Palmer also said the state board has no right to try the matter at this point.

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 Santa Ana board tried to cover up its own actions are "just not the case."

If all else fails, a federal trial on the contamination is tentatively scheduled for October 2008.

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BS Ranch Perspective

After reading this it seems that The City of Rialto, and The City Council is being Treated as I was treated when it came to my workers compensation case, It took me 10 years to settle my case, and it was only settled because my lawyer made an offer to settle out of court, well Rialto accepted that offer and that was the only reason that my case was well handled. I even Died On Duty, in a Motorcycle Accident. But that didn't matter.

This case will not be settled and all of the J&K Utility Tax money is going to the lawyer, Owen's so that he can take this case to Court. I don't think that this will go very far in October 88 either...

BS Ranch

Toxin-Free water Demanded in Rialto (Dainly Bulletin June 28, 2007)

BS Ranch Perspective Don't get me wrong, but isn't Toxin-free water what any Home owner wants when they own their home and they pay their taxes, and then they have all that water bill paid, and suddenly they have toxic water, that is terrible for human consumption, You spend your hard earned money, that you had worked really hard for, yet you find that the place that you purchased that you figured was safe for your family is actually poisonous Water that gives everyone Cancer if they drank the water!! All you want is to keep your family SAFE!! It is no wonder that everyone is up in arms about the Contamination in the Water Supply at Rialto!! They need to Concentrate on keeping the Water Clean, rather than Suing the Company Responsible for the problem. Rialto needs to concentrate on the clean up and not on the problems surrounding the clean up. Perchlorate is nothing to play with it is a dangerous substance when left in the water supply!! BS Ranch Toxin-free water demanded in Rialto

By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Article Launched:06/28/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

RIALTO - Hundreds of residents and representatives of organizations around the state came to a rowdy forum Wednesday night to demand that an ingredient used to produce rocket fuel, perchlorate, be cleaned out of the local drinking water supply. The event, held by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, featured marching, Aztec dancers, a hearing before a panel of guest activists and calls for action. "This particular pollutant is really worrisome," said UC San Francisco medical professor Gina Solomon during a presentation on the health effects of perchlorate. Well-known activist Dolores Huerta was expected to lead a panel of guests to demand change, but she was unable to make it to the event. Perchlorate is used to produce different types of explosives, and although its health effects are not well understood, it can interfere with the thyroid gland. A number of residents took the opportunity to tell the panel - which later voted to have the State Water Resources Control Board order cleanup - about the problem. The center's executive director, Penny Newman, highlighted how much longer it has taken to clean up the perchlorate in Rialto than it took to clean up perchlorate discovered in Redlands the same year. Rialto has accused dozens of parties of being responsible for the pollution, while only one party caused the contamination in Redlands. But Newman said Redlands is a wealthier and predominately white community with more political influence than Rialto. "I don't know too many people who say race does not play a role in our society today," she said before the event. The contamination has been spreading from Rialto's north end through the city and into Colton. Local water companies have spent millions of dollars to clean it out of the water they serve their customers. The entire mess could cost $300 million to clean up. Rialto and Colton have tried a number of strategies to get the dozens of suspected polluters, which include Goodrich, Black and Decker and Pyro Spectaculars, to clean it up. A federal lawsuit is still in the early stages, and the state regulatory bodies charged with monitoring water quality have struggled to move the case forward. State hearings have been delayed numerous times, most recently from July to late August, delays Newman called "unacceptable." Contact writer Jason Pesick at (909) 386-3861 or via e-mail at jason.pesick@sbsun.com.

Delta Pumpsd Halted (SAC BEE 060107) If shutdown is long, agencies may order Conservation or Rationing.

Delta pumps haltedIf

shutdown is long, agencies may order conservation or rationing.By

Matt Weiser - Bee Staff Writer

Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, June 1, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1

Vital links in the state's water system run side by side near Patterson in Stanislaus County: in the foreground the California Aqueduct and beyond it the Delta's Mendota Canal. Water into the aqueduct will be cut off for seven to 10 days. Sacramento Bee file, 2002/Dick Schmidt

See additional images

 

California water officials on Thursday halted water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta after rising numbers of a rare fish, the Delta smelt, were sucked to their deaths in the pumps.State

Department of Water Resources officials said the action is expected to last seven to 10 days, until water conditions allow the fish to move to safer areas. Shortages are not expected for the 25 million Californians who get water from the Delta.But

if the shutdown lasts longer, some water agencies, mainly in the Bay Area, may have to impose mandatory conservation or rationing measures. Many have called on customers to adopt extra voluntary conservation steps amid what is already one of the driest years on record in the state.

"Nobody is going without water," said DWR Director Lester Snow. "We will ramp up efforts for additional conservation. We want everybody to conserve water both because of this circumstance and the low snowpack this year."

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation also has shut down all but one of the six pumps at its separate, federal Delta water export facility, an unprecedented step.

"We have never been in the situation we are right now," said bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken.Bureau

engineers are working to further cut the flow while still sending enough water downstream to keep Tracy from running dry. The city takes about half its supply from the bureau's San Luis Canal.This

may be the first time state water exports have been halted to protect fish. The pumps were last silenced in 2004, and only for a couple of days, to protect water quality after a levee break in the Delta.The

latest shutdown came after a request from the state Department of Fish and Game, which also asked small water users in the south Delta to halt diversions. Fish and Game also suspended all scientific collection of smelt except for those needed to monitor the population.The

smelt is a translucent, minnow-like fish that has little commercial or recreational value. But it is a fragile fish that lives for only one year. It is extremely sensitive to water quality, so it is considered a strong indicator of the health of the entire Delta.The

smelt has been in a steep decline for three years, along with other species that share similar habitat, including striped bass, threadfin shad and longfin smelt. Biologists have been unable to explain the decline, but blame a combination of water exports, water contamination, and competition from wildlife not native to Delta waters.The

Delta is the hub of the state's water system, channeling abundant snowmelt in the north to dry regions in the south. But that function is increasingly threatened by crumbling levees, poor habitat and climate change.

"This just kind of underscores what a difficult dynamic we have in the Delta," said Fish and Game Director Ryan Broddrick. "The long-term health of the state, from an environmental and economic standpoint, requires finding a more durable solution."

The smelt are expected to move downstream to Suisun Bay -- a safe distance from the pumps -- when the water warms to 77 degrees. But tidal conditions and low runoff are combining to keep them deep in the estuary. It is unclear how long those conditions will last.Politicians

and biologists have struggled unsuccessfully for years to balance the competing needs of wildlife and water users, and it has become increasingly clear that a balance cannot be struck given how the Delta is used today.Gov

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed a panel of experts to figure out how to re-engineer the Delta to protect fish while it conveys water. The findings are more than a yeaway.Water

Water users and environmentalists separately praised the decision to cease pumping, but called for more action.

. This really feels like a lot of things piling up and maKightlingery difficult to move water in this state."

Smelt are routinely killed in the course of normal export operations. This year, however, no smelt had been killed at the state pumps until May 25.

Young smelt began showing up at the pumps, and then the number killed began to grow. By Thursday morning, the state pumps had killed 216 smelt, and federal pumps 252.

This was alarming in light of low population survey results for the fingerling, which is listed as threatened under both the state and federal endangered species laws. An annual survey found only 25 smelt in the Delta locations sampled each spring, a drastic drop from a seven-year average of 353 fish found.

Two lawsuits recently dealt major blows to Delta water exports. In March, a state judge ruled that the DWR did not obtain proper permits under the state Endangered Species Act to kill smelt at the export pumps. Then last week, a federal judge in Fresno ruled that water exports did not offer enough protection to smelt under federal law.

Environmental groups speculated the DWR's move to halt pumping was aimed to avoid rigid action by the courts.

"Given the numbers, I think it's clear the courts would have stepped in and turned the pumps off if they hadn't voluntarily turned them off," said Bill Jenninlaw.Environmentalector of the CaliforniaDWR'stfishing Protection Alliance.

Jennings said his group planned next week to seek a restraining order against state pumping operations to protect the smelt.

Water users south of San Luis Reservoir, near Los Banos, will continue receiving deliveries as expected during theSportfishingom that sourAlliance.Jenningswater pumped from the Delta. Many will also be able draw from local reservoirs and groundwater.

Those served bysmelt.WaterBay Aqueduct, however, will not receive aLosDBanoswater during the shutdown and will have to rely on local sources.

About 2 million people in the Bay Area depend on that water for part of their supply. The East Bay cities of Livermoregroundwater.ThoseDublin are most vulnerable, with as much as 80 percent of their drinking water coming from the Delta through their wholesaler, tsources.Abouter Agency, which is ramping up wells and planning conservation measures.

The only farms affected if the sLivermoreasPleasantonan 10 days are those that use water from canals and pipes fed directly by the Delta pumps. These include about 2,200 acres of almonds, alfalfa and vegetables in the Oramping Water District near Patterson. Somemeasures.Thend olive orchards in the Livermore Valley may see cutbacks as well.

Bill Harrison, general manager of the Oak Flat district, said his area has poor groundwater but should be able to irrigate for a week using water already pumped into the canal that runs from the Delta to San Luis Reservoir.

After Livermoresaid, "about 1,300 to 1,400 well.Billld be high and dry."

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BS Ranch Perspective:

Just think that those people in those cities are drinking Smelt Fish Guts!! The Smelt Reservoir. After ground up into small bits &  made into trout food, however the conservationists are pouring their resources into saving these small 4" fish that can probably be saved with a small inexpensive screen or set of screens built around the Delta Pumps Inlets to prevent the Small Smelt Fish from entering the Delta Pump's. Then the Pumps would not have to be Halted, but maybe because of the screens they might have to be slowed down. I hope that this might be something that can be looked into to see if it could be something that could be used to SAVE the SMELT FISH, and ALSO, SAVE the WATER PUMPING that is needed for Water in the more populated areas.

Either way the people of the Bay Area have a very Tight Rope to Walk On. Either they become the Environmentalists that they claim to be, or they become selfish and get cry for drinking water not caring for the SMELT FISH!! I Digress, I believe that there can be a solution to this this by one means and that is the Screen Idea. Maybe there would have to be an Employee Environmentalists to clear the screen or screens of fish to prevent blockage of that said screen, or screens, that block the inlet to the Pumps. It will cost a whole lot more to save such a smart and industrious Fish, Like the Smelt Fish, the wage of a Screen Cleaner is very Important.

I know that I might have over simplified the problem, and I might need to be educated more on how the SMELT FISH LIVE & The Migration of the Species. If anyone has this information I industrious receive your speculation in writing.

BS Ranch