Watchdogs resist sea change

Alicia Robinson

Local environmental activists are vehemently opposing a state

proposal to eliminate 10 boards that regulate water, a plan they

think will put California’s water-quality programs on the rocks.

The California Performance Review, a report commissioned by Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger to increase government efficiency and save

about $32 billion, recommends axing the State Water Resources Control

Board and nine regional water-quality control boards, whose members

are governor-appointed.

The report suggests that the governor reorganize the state

Environmental Protection Agency into a new Department of

Environmental Protection and appoint 10 water-quality administrators

to replace the regional boards.

“We are totally opposed to that,” said Garry Brown, executive

director of Newport Beach-based Orange County CoastKeeper. “What this

is, is more of an opportunity to grab power by the state ... and do

away with the regional boards.”

Water quality is a hot issue in Newport-Mesa, which depends

heavily on tourist dollars and suffers when coastal waters are

polluted.

The regional water boards have existed in some form for about half

a century and have had their current structure for more than 30

years, said Kurt Berchtold, spokesman for the Santa Ana Regional

Water Quality Control Board, which governs an area that includes

Newport-Mesa.

The nine-member board is in charge of the area’s basin plan, which

regulates the cleanliness of storm water that ends up in rivers and

coastal waters. The board also gives storm water discharge permits to

local governments and other agencies, takes public input on water

issues and enforces violations of the state water code, Berchtold

said.

Changing the regional board structure to a cabinet-style agency

would eliminate overlap of various programs while keeping

environmental protections intact, argued Chris Reynolds, who led a

state team that created the water-board recommendations.

The change would also solve what some believe is a problem with

consistency of policies among various regional boards, he said.

“There’s been a need on several occasions for an appeal to the

state board to get some clarity and some guidance,” Reynolds said.

Environmentalists argue the new administrators would be more

susceptible to political influence and would be less familiar with

each region’s local issues.

Orange County’s watershed is the largest in the state and has its

own aquifer, unlike many other watershed regions, Brown said.

“There’s differences,” he said. “What may fit for San Francisco

County in water quality doesn’t fit for Orange County because it’s

the topography. It’s physically different.”

Residents can go to their board now with complaints or questions,

which would be harder to do under a Sacramento-based administrative

structure, said Bob Caustin of Defend the Bay, a nonprofit

environmental organization dedicated to the protection of Newport Bay

and coastal waters in Orange County.

“If they eliminate the boards, where are we going to go -- the

state Supreme Court each and every time there’s an issue?” he asked.

Water-board members now must be confirmed by the state Senate --

an important check on the governor’s authority -- and they are rarely

removed before completing four-year terms, which gives them some

independence from the governor’s office, Caustin said.

Brown plans to fight the proposed water-board change at a Sept. 17

public hearing on the state’s reorganization proposals in Fresno, and

he’s encouraging others with a stake in water-quality regulations to

attend also. For more information on the California Performance

Review, visit https://report.cpr.ca.gov.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].