Water board aims to delay runoff plan

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- The state water board has endorsed a decision by its

regional counterpart that holds the state’s transportation department

liable for storm-water runoff into the cove.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board’s statements came

Tuesday in a preliminary report circulated in advance of an April 4

hearing on the validity of the California Department of Transportation’s

appeal of a cleanup order.

Caltrans had appealed the regional water board’s Nov. 16

cease-and-desist order that set a two-year timeline for cleaning up

runoff into Crystal Cove.

In its preliminary report, the water board recommends delaying

implementation of the Caltrans runoff plan for three years. In addition,

Caltrans would be required to submit its plan by May 16, 2004, also a three-year extension.

The state’s water board is scheduled to hear arguments about the

appeal at the April 4 workshop. No decision is expected that day. A final

ruling will probably come down at the board’s April 26 meeting.

The regional board alleges the transportation agency is responsible

for runoff from Coast Highway into the cove, one of 35 Areas of Special

Biological Significance. The state’s Ocean Plan, put in place in 1972,

prohibits the dumping of polluted water into such an area.

In the preliminary report, the state water board rejects Caltrans’

assertion in the Dec. 15 appeal that storm water from Coast Highway

shouldn’t be considered waste under state law.

That interpretation has been rejected.

“This contention on its face is without merit,” the report states.

“The plain meaning of the discharge prohibition in the current Ocean Plan

applies to storm-water discharges.”

The regional board, in the Nov. 16 cease-and-desist order, set a

two-year period for the elimination of pollution discharges. The three

parties named in the order -- Caltrans, California State Parks and the

Irvine Co. -- were given until May 16 to submit runoff plans.

On Tuesday, Caltrans spokeswoman Beth Beeman said she had not had time

to review the details of the draft order -- the product of negotiations

between the agencies.

“We are continuing to work with the board to come up with a solution

that works for both of us,” Beeman said. “This moves us in that

direction.”

After announcing some details of its own runoff plan, the Irvine Co.

secured an approval from the California Coastal Commission on March 12.

The state water board’s decision on the Caltrans appeal could send

ripples to state parks if that agency is also given an additional three

years to comply with the cleanup order.

Defend the Bay founder Bob Caustin said he was disappointed with

Caltrans for trying to deny culpability for polluting the cove.

The National Resources Defense Council joined Defend the Bay in filing

a brief supporting the regional board’s enforcement action on Feb. 27.

“We’re angry about these guys trying to say their pollution is not

pollution,” Caustin said. “They’re trying to say they’re not responsible

for their polluted water.”