Tougher stance on discharges applauded

Alex Coolman

Environmentalists this week said they are encouraged by the tough

stance taken by a local water control board toward the Irvine Co. over

the subject of water discharges at Crystal Cove and contend it’s a shift

from an earlier, less-aggressive attitude.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board reaffirmed in a

Monday letter to the developer that it may ask state water regulators to

issue a cease-and-desist order against the Irvine Co. to prevent further

dumping of runoff into Crystal Cove waters.

The order would require that the Irvine Co. “eliminate all existing

discharges of water” from a 635-home development into two drains that

empty at or near the beach at Crystal Cove. The board may consider

imposing the order at a Nov. 17 regional board meeting.

Garry Brown, director of the water quality advocacy group Orange

County CoastKeeper, said the unequivocal language of the letter -- and

its indication that the board is willing to act with or without

state-level input -- marked a real change in the regional board’s

attitude toward discharges at Crystal Cove.

“It’s not only a stronger stance, it’s the first time there’s been a

formal acknowledgment of what we’ve been saying for the last year” about

the types of water-dumping that occur at Crystal Cove, Brown said.

Discharges of water from the Irvine Co. have become a source of

heightened contention in the last week as the developer has argued that

it is not legally prohibited from dumping water at Crystal Cove. The

developer’s position flies in the face of environmentalists’ assumptions

that the area, because it is a state-designated area of special

environmental significance, is off-limits to all discharges.

The regional water board has asked state-level water officials for

advice on the legal questions in the case, but state officials said

Tuesday that they had yet to come up with an answer.

“We know what the issue is, but in terms of how we’re going to respond

to it, we’re going to have to think about it,” said Robert Miller, a

spokesperson for the State Water Resources Control Board. “The

[legislation] is unclear on this issue and it’s going to need some

clarification.”

Sat Tamaribuchi, vice president of environmental affairs for the

Irvine Co., said Tuesday that the regional board’s position in its letter

was nothing new.

“We’ve pretty much said that we’re going to comply with whatever the

state board says,” Tamaribuchi said.

But Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the regional board,

said the letter marked a new degree of specificity in the board’s manner

of dealing with the Crystal Cove situation.

The letter notes, for example, that discharges into Los Trancos Creek,

which the Irvine Co. says are not direct discharges into the ocean, occur

sufficiently close to the beach that “they must be considered discharges

to the ocean” and are consequently subject to legislative restriction.

“I don’t think our general position is any different from what we have

talked to them about in the past,” he said. “The one thing that is

different in the letter is that we, for the first time, specifically

state what our next step might be, and that’s the potential

cease-and-desist order and the Nov. 17 hearing date. We hadn’t discussed

that with them in the past.”

Kimberly Lewand, a attorney representing CoastKeeper, said the letter,

because it spells out in detail the nature of the discharges taking place

at Crystal Cove, could become the basis for future challenges to water

quality waivers that were granted the Irvine Co.’s development.

“We feel that this factual determination supports revocation of those

waivers,” she said.

If the regional board does pass a cease-and-desist order, it will

probably mean that the developer will be given a schedule for reducing

and eliminating discharges, Berchtold said.

“I think [the Irvine Co.] would probably have to construct some other

facilities to allow them to comply. I don’t right now know what would be

involved, but it’s probably not something they could comply with

instantaneously,” he said.

Rich Elbaum, a spokesperson for the developer, said the company could

not know what physical steps might be necessary to address board concerns

until the specific details of board decisions become available.

“It’s impossible to speculate because it’s a complex issue,” he said.

“We always will comply with the laws and regulations.”