It pays to pollute at Malibu's Paradise Cove

The L.A. Regional Water Board issued a shocking order Tuesday to allow the Kissel Co. to walk away nearly scot free despite its involvement in hundreds of water quality violations at Paradise Cove in Malibu over the past decade. Paradise Cove has long been one of the most polluted beaches in Santa Monica Bay. The mobile park, which is owned and operated by Kissel, has been one of the largest sources of fecal pollution to the beach. Raw sewage from the park has frequently spilled in the street. The Kissel Co. has failed to build a new on-site sewage treatment plant and sewers for over a decade despite the issuance of numerous Time Schedule Orders with an array of compliance deadlines.

How did the most egregious serial Bay polluter of the 21st century get away with so many violations?

The Regional Water Board staff and attorneys made some egregious errors of their own in enforcing the case. Picture a serial felon getting released on probation because the police failed to read the accused his Miranda rights. That’s what happened here.

Due to administrative errors in how the enforcement mechanisms were structured, the initial recommended fine of $1.65 million was whittled down to $54,500.

Because of the technical mistakes, the Kissel Co. saved over a million dollars in penalties and even more millions in the opportunity cost gained by not upgrading, operating and maintaining a First World wastewater treatment system for a decade. It definitely pays to pollute.

The Board should be ashamed and Steve Dahlberg, who leads the Kissel Co., owes the public and the local community an apology and more. All of those men, women and children that got sick from swimming in the sewage polluted waters of Paradise Cove in the last 10 years have the Regional Board and the Kissel Co. to thank.

The right thing for the Kissel Co. to do would be to donate a million dollars to a water quality protection group like the Bay Restoration Commission or to the city of Malibu for its Civic Center wastewater treatment system. Company execs have made out like bandits already. If they had any conscience at all, they’d give generously to make up for all the years of putting public health at risk.

Does end of world mean the end of HtB?

As a father of three, I end up going to a lot of movies. Last weekend, I saw the world nearly destroyed in the action film “2012.” Not that I’m biased, but the highlight of the movie is definitely the annihilation of Los Angeles. As John Cusack drives a gravity-defying limo through the crumbling Westside, two Heal the Bay billboards crash violently to the ground (check out 1:33 in this trailer).

I guess if the world is coming to an end, healing the bay becomes less of a priority. Besides, after director Roland Emmerich gets done with L.A., I’m pretty sure Santa Monica Bay no longer exists post apocalypse. In the film, the Santa Monica Pier (including our aquarium!) and my neighborhood slide into the abyss of what’s left of the bay. (Tragic indeed. I can’t even imagine the fecal bacteria counts after the 10.9 quake.)

“2012” continues a brief cinematic tradition of Heal the Bay movie cameos that started with Keanu and Sandra in “Speed” (the exploding bus had a “Leave Something for Your Children to Remember You By” HtB ad), continued to the Jason Statham thriller “Cellular” (a Heal the Bay concert on the SM Pier is prominent) and now culminates in the End of the World in “2012.”

Great to get the publicity. Movies definitely bring out the text messages from all over the country and beyond. Just once, I’d like to see something positive happen with Heal the Bay in a film. It is sort of fun to get blown up or destroyed, but the occasional ocean protection message would be cool too.

The Brown Pelican falls off the endangered list but toxic dangers still loom in the sea

The federal Department of Interior has just delisted the Brown Pelican from the endangered species list.  I agree with the move, which occurred about eight months after the State Department of Fish and Game delisted the California Brown Pelican.  It is just tragic that it took over 35 years since the DDT and PCB ban to finally achieve this milestone. The legacy of our society’s addiction to easy-to-use pesticides and herbicides is brilliantly documented in Rachel Carson’s classic 1962 book “Silent Spring.” The impacts of DDT and PCBs on eggshell thinning in predatory birds nearly led to the extinction of the Brown Pelican, Peregrine Falcon and Bald Eagle.  All of the species have recovered substantially in the decades following the chemical bans, but the organochlorines still pose a substantial ecological and health risk. These toxins easily biomagnify up the food web and have very slow degradation rates in the marine environment.

The legacy of DDT and PCBs is still seen locally.  Some species of fish caught between Santa Monica Pier and Seal Beach Pier should not be consumed at all by people (white croaker, barred sand bass and topsmelt). And numerous other species should only be consumed once a week.  Also, the recovery of the Bald Eagle on the Channel Islands (especially Catalina) has been slower than the recovery of the California Brown Pelican. 

We’ve all seen the bumper sticker that reads “Extinction is Forever.”  Despite the good news on the delisting of the Brown Pelican, its rehabilitation definitely tells us that the timeframe from endangered to recovery could be a lifetime.

The story of the Brown Pelican teaches us that mistakes made in the name of progress and commerce can have devastating ecological and human health effects.  Chemical bans may result in species recovery and reduced health risks, but they surely are not as effective as adequate testing before toxic chemicals are ever allowed to market. 

With tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in use around the world and thousands more new chemicals coming to market annually,  it’s vital to continue to support Green Chemistry, strengthening the federal Toxic Substances Control Act  and Precautionary Principle efforts.

Despite tremendous turnout from the environmental community, the L.A. Board of Public Works today delayed its decision on a staff-proposed Low Impact Development ordinance for at least another month. The Board voted 2-1 to postpone the measure, disregarding strong backing from Sanitation staff and the DWP. (Paula Daniels, the board lead on the LID ordinance, cast the dissenting vote.)

Many Green LA members, businesses, gardeners and landscape architects came out to support the reasonable and much-needed ordinance. But the lobbying efforts of the Building Industry Assn., the same folks that have opposed LID efforts throughout the state, succeeded at the Board level. The fact that the Regional Water Board earlier passed a Ventura County stormwater permit with a strong LID component fell on deaf ears.

The proposed ordinance calls for all significant new construction and redevelopment projects in the city to infiltrate or capture and use 100% of the runoff generated by three-quarter inch storms. In the event developers can’t comply with the requirements on site, they can provide offsite mitigation or pay an in-lieu fee to the city to fund LID projects like green streets and parking-lot retrofits.

The ordinance would apply to single-family homes too, but requirements would be minimal and could be met with rain gutter downspout redirection to landscaping and/or the use of a rain barrel.

Tthe development community made no new arguments. The usual “it is too expensive and it is too hard” pleas carried the day. Board members even questioned the adequacy of public review despite the fact that staff met with neighborhood councils and held five public workshops. The bottom line: The city got cold feet because of development community pressure.

The board failed to fully appreciate today that the LID ordinance marks the cornerstone of the city’s water-quality compliance master plan. City staff has put together Total Maximum Daily Load implementation plans that will cost well over $1 billion. And the LID ordinance is critical for plan implementation.

City officials can’t comply via water-quality standards alone. They need everyone’s help. The ordinance would result in dramatic reductions in pollutant loads, enhanced flood control, augmented groundwater recharge and greener communities. These are all tremendous benefits in their own right. But the city’s major compliance problems with water quality standards have also put taxpayers in a place of tremendous financial liability.

Remember Mayor Villaraigosa’s campaign promise to transform Los Angeles into the cleanest, greenest city in America? If the city wants to move from rhetoric to reality, leaders will have to approve the LID ordinance as soon as possible. Any further delay is unconscionable and puts the city at unnecessary risk of enforcement due to extensive, ongoing water-quality violations.

State's water bill is heavy on the pork

The California Legislature approved a water deal this week, but sadly it’s weaker than the proposal that almost got jammed through at the end of session a few weeks ago. Sen. Fran Pavley’s effort to put meaningful water rights reform into the measure fell victim to 11^th-hour dealmaking. Pavley’s reasonable initiative was perhaps the most critical part of the package. The proposed bond measure also has soared to over $11 billion (water pork for all!), and claims that the funds have not been earmarked for a peripheral canal and storage may be legally accurate but surely not politically correct. Statements from the governor, water districts and legislators make it clear that the intent of the water legislation is to enable the ill-conceived re-plumbing of the Delta to proceed. 

I certainly wasn’t surprised that a water package passed through the legislature in special session. The water crisis is as big a problem in California as the financial crisis.  However, I am deeply disappointed.

It makes no sense to provide momentum for a peripheral canal without statewide mandatory water metering within the next few years and water rights reform. In addition, mandatory 20% water conservation targets should apply to everyone in the state, including agriculture. Urban areas only use 20% of the state’s water, yet mandatory conservation only applies to high density areas. Urban success will only result in a 4% reduction in California water use, not nearly enough to sustainably manage California’s ongoing water crisis.

With the magnitude of the problem, the legislature and the governor had a chance to move forward with critical and equitable water reform for California. Instead, the approved measure funds another series of studies and does little to solve the water crisis in the short or long term.

Cynics may say that the big winners were consultants, lawyers and agriculture, but in reality, all of California lost.  Perhaps, the legislature will further reflect on the inadequacy of the water package and move forward with meaningful water reform next year or in the next legislative session under new gubernatorial leadership. (Insert your own “when pigs fly” analogy here.) 

Maybe state leadership will reconsider if the bond measure goes down in flames.  It is hard to believe that the public will approve an $11 billion bond under these financial conditions when we can’t even sell the billions in bonds from Props 84 and 50. Numerous critical projects funded by these water bonds are still on hold and the $5 billion from Prop. 84 has barely been tapped.  If the Sierra Club, which opposed the latest legislative package, decides to oppose the bond measure, there will be almost no chance of the package passing.

So what’s needed? Here’s my not-so-short list:

• statewide mandatory conservation targets that apply to everyone and every user group and get our per capita potable water use rates to 100 gallons per day by 2020.
• statewide water metering
• statewide Low Impact Development requirements
• plumbing code modifications that mandate waterless urinals in all public buildings by 2020
• targeted incentives for increased use of stormwater for groundwater augmentation
•  mandatory statewide water recycling targets and use requirements
• complete reform of the state’s antiquated water rights system to make California live within its water budget

These changes would mark meaningful reform instead of business-as-usual bonds and bureaucracies.  Because the water crisis isn’t going away any time soon, there will be plenty of opportunities to move forward on water management reform.  How much worse the crisis has to get before we shift from incrementalism to true reform is anyone’s guess.

After 18 years of fighting for clean water, surfers in Malibu score a major win

The Regional Water Board voted 5-2 last night to approve a moratorium on septic systems in the Malibu civic center area.  In a bid to clean up chronically polluted Surfrider Beach, the measure bans any new septic systems in the area and mandates removal of existing systems by 2015 for commercial properties and 2019 for residential properties.  The environmental community — Baykeeper, Surfrider Foundation, Malibu Surfing Assn. and Heal the Bay — came out in large numbers to support a prohibition and moratorium for the civic center area.   It was a great organizing effort that involved all groups.

Surfrider moved forward with its “Clean Water at the Bu” efforts with postcards and T-shirts.  Testimony from Chad Nelson on the economics of polluted water was particularly effective.  Malibu Surfing Assn. chief Michael Blum did an extraordinary job of garnering surfing community support.  MSA gathered over a thousand signatures from surf clubs and Joe Melchione and Ken Seino moved many attendees by graphically recounting their histories of serious illness from surfing at Malibu. (Personally, I was partial to the “No Poo at the Bu” buttons created by Heal the Bay’s own Susie Santilena.)

Believe it or not, the Regional Board went further on the moratorium than Heal the Bay requested.  We pushed for sewering the Malibu Creek watershed development, but we recommended an alternative that allowed advanced on-site treatment systems with disinfection for lower Winter Canyon, the Colony and commercial businesses east of Malibu Creek on PCH.

The City of Malibu developed its own alternative, which looked remarkably like Heal the Bay’s proposal, without the septic system prohibition and moratorium.  Numerous local residents and business people spoke on the prohibitive cost of complying with the federal Clean Water Act and state Porter Cologne Act.

After eight hours of testimony and comment, I wasn’t sure how the Regional Board would vote.  In the end, boardmembers acted boldly, despite never having moved forward on enforcement or regulatory actions against Malibu before.  Their vote marks a historic action to clean up Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon, and Surfrider Beach.

What’s next? The action goes to the State Water Board for approval.  After that, Malibu, some businesses, and some residents may sue the state over the far-reaching clean-up action.  I hope they realize that their efforts garnered them a five-year compliance extension for residential systems and the ability to locate a city wastewater disposal system in the moratorium area of lower Winter Canyon.

In order to protect public health and aquatic life, Malibu should move forward with the planning, design and construction of a water recycling plant as soon as possible. 

For now, we should celebrate that the state has finally held Malibu accountable for water quality in the lagoon and at Surfrider.  Eighteen years of fighting for clean water at Surfrider have finally resulted in an enforceable solution to high nutrient concentrations and fecal bacteria counts.  However, this issue will not go away and we will have to remain vigilant. Heal the Bay is willing to work with Malibu and the state to arrive at a wastewater recycling solution that works.

My kids are ages 16, 13 and 10.  Trying to get them to clean up the mess in their rooms is nearly impossible.  If I badger them continuously, promises will be made to tidy up.  Inevitably, these pledges are empty and rarely result in a clean room.  My experience with Malibu during its 18 years of cityhood is pretty similar: a horrible mess, an ungodly smell, and plenty of unfulfilled promises. 

On Thursday, the Regional Water Board will play the role of the parent that has had enough of a recalcitrant child.  Malibu, board members will say, it’s time to clean up your mess and get real about fixing long-standing water quality issues. And this time there are consequences — an immediate ban on new septic systems in the Malibu civic center area and a moratorium on all on-site wastewater treatment systems by 2014.

A battle has been waged in the local print media about the cost of compliance with the state’s moratorium.  Figures ranging from $500 to $1,000 a month for single family homes have been quoted as fact in the local newspapers and the L.A. Times.  Unfortunately, the assumptions underlying these economic figures have not been provided to the public for review, so rumors of solid gold sewers and platinum membrane bioreactors are still in play. 

Seriously, the overall cost of the civic center wastewater recycling facility will definitely be less than the $45 million getting spent on the glorified native-plant botanical garden/stormwater storage facility at Legacy Park.  Yet, no one from Malibu complained about the high cost of Legacy Park. 

Malibu’s history has been one of opposing a centralized sewage treatment plant because of the growth-inducing potential of sewers.  Malibu became a city in response to L.A. County’s horrible plan to put a massive sewage treatment plant in pristine Corral Canyon.  The environmental community joined Malibu in opposing this plan for many reasons, but we were still eager for Malibu efforts to clean up the pollution in Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach.

As demonstrated by Malibu Days at the Coastal Commission and the decade-long battle over the city’s Local Coastal Plan, growth planning and management has always been difficult and contentious in Malibu.  Also, numerous wastewater plans and studies have been completed over the last 18 years, but the one constant has been high fecal bacteria counts at Surfrider Beach.

Initially, fingers pointed to the Tapia Water Reclamation Plant as the only source of the problems at Surfrider, but thanks to the Regional Water Board and the environmental community, Tapia stopped discharging to Malibu Creek from April to October over a decade ago.  Water quality improved at Surfrider, but it still gets failing grades on our Beach Report Card every time the lagoon breaches.

Thursday is D-Day for Malibu. The state will force the city to grow up after 18 years, whether its leaders like it or not. The Regional Water Board is using a blunt instrument to force the issue, a moratorium, because it doesn’t have any other vehicles to force Malibu to build a centralized water recycling plant by a date certain.  The moratorium area is larger than needed to improve water quality and protect public health, but a successful moratorium will finally force Malibu to do its fair share to clean up Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider.

In the 11^th hour, Malibu is countering the state proposal with a phased plan with no legal accountability.  The plan itself demonstrates some merit,  with flexibility in disinfection treatment options. It allows for onsite advanced treatment rather than forcing everyone to sewer at the Malibu Colony, commercial properties along PCH, and Malibu Knolls.  Also, without a sewer requirement in Winter Canyon, the city would have potential wastewater disposal options that pose no pollution risk to the lagoon or Surfrider. 

However, without an enforceable plan with real consequences like an on-site system moratorium, the environmental community will have little choice but to oppose Malibu’s new proposal.  Malibu’s track record over the last 18 years just doesn’t merit allowing another voluntary commitment to sewer the civic center.

Because Malibu has yet to put its final proposal in writing, I urge the city to put their game plan in the form of an enforceable moratorium. The end result could be a more cost-effective wastewater management solution to the civic center area while providing the state and the public with legally binding assurances that improved water quality and protected public health are right around the corner.

A day at the beach shouldn’t make you sick.  Also, no one should eat at a restaurant and be subjected to that Malibu smell.  After the Regional Board meeting on Thursday and subsequent action in the civic center, maybe Surfrider will just be famous for a perfect wave.

Butting heads over CEQA

I grew up a diehard Rams fan.  I suffered through the 14-7 “Mud Bowl” NFC championship loss to the Vikings at the Coliseum in 1977.  My recall of the Steelers’ John Stallworth grabbing a reception by pinning the football to his helmet is as vivid as my memory of today’s breakfast.  Be it Jack Youngblood playing with a broken leg or Harold Jackson streaking long for a TD pass, I lived and died with my beloved Rams. At least until owner Georgia Frontiere broke my heart by moving the team to St. Louis.

I am a football fan.  Not a fantasy league geek kind of fan, but the kind that follows the NFL closely, watches ESPN’s “SportsCenter” daily, and catches at least part of a game or two a week.  I want football back in Los Angeles.  It is comical that little Jacksonville has a team and the nation’s second largest city has none.

But that does not mean that I support waiving compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act to get it done.

If the Ed Roski stadium project is such a great opportunity, maybe the NFL should make it clear they want an NFL team in L.A. in Roski’s stadium.  That has not happened.  If the nation’s first LEED-certified stadium is as green as proponents claim, then why can’t they go through the CEQA process like everyone else? Because Roski’s crew is masterful at sidestepping environmental laws – see construction of the Staples Center a decade ago.

Instead, we have the Legislature and the Governor wrapping themselves in the glory of the NFL. It’s as if they have claimed some sort of divine intervention to allow pro-football to return to L.A.  I can’t wait for the free Steve Sabol-narrated DVD about the “men and women that play the game!” for the Legislature with my next SI subscription.  I can picture the football fanfare, with exaggerated claims like “the stadium will create 19,000 jobs.”  Tears are coming to my eyes just thinking about it.

I live in Santa Monica.  I’m pretty sure you need an approved EIR to add a bathroom to your house.  Seriously, thanks to our friends at the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, we need an EIR to ban disposable bags in a city, but we don’t need an approved EIR for a 75,000-person stadium next to an already packed freeway.  Once again, I just can’t quite make sense of it all.

Now that Roski has created yet more precedent by another end run around CEQA, let’s see if he can pull off getting football back to L.A.  With our football luck, we’ll either get shut out again, or get stuck with those not so lovable losers, the Rams or Raiders.

Chadwick students spoke at MPA hearing but didn't get satisfaction of a vote Thursday night

Most of the signs Thursday pointed towards a state panel adopting a protective Marine Protected Area (MPA) network for Southern California. A strong op-ed piece supporting Map 3 was penned by her deepness herself — Sylvia Earle. An L.A. Times editorial endorsed a strong conservation network. Analysis by the panel’s Scientific Advisory Team — made up of some of California’s best marine scientists — clearly stated that Map 3 best met the scientific criteria. The group also noted that the compromise alternative, Map 1, did a decent job of meeting the criteria, but the fishing alternative, Map 2, failed to meet numerous guidelines.

The “MPAs Work” folks had put together a PSA with star power including Pierce and Keely Brosnan, John McGinley, Amy Smart and others. Even the circus of a public hearing in Long Beach was a balanced affair. With about 500 conservationists garbed in blue and 500 fishermen in black, the hearing room looked like a giant bruise.

Despite having the science, media and a great deal of public opinion on the side of a strong MPA network, the state’s Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) decided to . . . blink. The members postponed their recommendation till sometime in November.

The BRTF, over the course of Thursday, inexplicably decided to take matters into its own hands. Despite a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars on facilitators and meeting rooms, and dozens of hours of stakeholder negotiations over the last year, the panel decided to draw some of their own lines in the ocean to come up with yet another proposal.

The process has been anything but democratic, with the fishing community outnumbering the environmentalists in negotiations. The three proposals ranged from the science alternative, to a middle ground alternative, to a fishing alternative. Why didn’t the BRTF stick to the three maps and make a recommendation?  Even a few mild tweaks of the middle ground proposal would have been better than postponing the decision for a later day. The delay will allow animosity to grow and fester and will encourage high-level, intense lobbying until the new D-day.

Bad politics. Bad policy. Bad science. It certainly was not a red letter day for the BRTF. Instead, Southern California’s coast and marine life suffered yet another setback. I hope it is justice deferred. But I’m afraid it will be justice denied by a BRTF that blinked under pressure.

The late Dorothy Green: an enduring legacy of activism

A year ago today, California’s environmental community lost a giant: Dorothy Green. Tireless. Visionary. Selfless.  Brilliant.  Fearless. Passionate. Warm.  Driven. Inspiring.  Leader. Mentor. Friend.  These words only begin to describe this remarkable woman.

I miss her each and every day.  Every time I see an article or e-mail on California’s water crisis, I think of Dorothy.  Every time I see our fish logo, I think of Dorothy.  Every day we work on water recycling, conservation, and a Low Impact Development approach to reducing polluted runoff and augmenting local water supplies, I think of Dorothy.  To me, Dorothy will always be Heal the Bay and Heal the Bay will always be Dorothy.

I’ve had a great deal of trouble coming to terms with losing someone that meant so much to me personally and professionally.  She was my mentor and my best friend.  Her life proved that one person can truly make this world a better place and her impact on California’s coast and watersheds was unparalleled.

I’m overwhelmed by the irony of remembering Dorothy while the state of California urgently tries to replumb the Delta without demanding water use accountability from Ag. Even if urban residents stopped using water tomorrow, California would still be in a water crisis because Big Agriculture uses about 80% of the state’s water and we have over five times more water rights than we have water.  The system is completely broken, and engineering solutions alone won’t solve our water crisis. Dorothy had incredible common sense and that’s just what we need to fix the problem.

As much as Dorothy would want me to honor her memory on the anniversary of her passing by focusing on the fight for clean water and protected aquatic ecosystems, it is important to reflect on what Dorothy meant to all of us.  She inspired us by taking on the most complex, lost causes and fighting for common-sense solutions. I can’t tell you how often I’ve reached for the phone in the last year to ask her advice on a complicated issue. Asking myself “What would Dorothy do?” is a commonplace occurrence.

Dorothy made time for everyone and she had the extraordinary ability of making everyone she worked with on an issue or project feel like the primary reason for organizational success.  You could always lean on Dorothy.  In fact she thrived on it. Dorothy was so comfortable in her own skin. She could talk fearlessly to people about water from Hollywood, city hall, Sacramento or Congress. To so many people, she was the credible voice for our right to clean water. 

Today, many people pay tribute to Dorothy in their own way.  Some may go to the beach and look at the Bay that she spent so many years healing.  If it rains, others may go to Ballona Creek or the L.A. River to remember why she fought so hard to clean up urban runoff.  Some may send an e-mail to their Assemblyperson or Senator asking them to oppose the water bond and plan to replumb the delta until true water rights reform and statewide conservation are part of the package.  Some may just choose to wear a Heal the Bay t-shirt. 

Personally, I’ll remember Dorothy by looking at old photos and newsletters, maybe having lunch with some mutual friends, and talking to my kids about how Dorothy gave me a special chance to be part of a movement to protect the environment for generations to come.