High hope for Mother Earth

Two weeks after Earth Day, two stories have surfaced that serve as

cautionary tales and hope for a healthier environment in the future.

The first involves a report released by UC Irvine based on a study

of two beaches, Newport and Huntington, just up the coast from

Laguna.

Researchers studied the cost of illness associated with swimming

in ocean waters, and came to the conclusion that recreational

swimmers and surfers are losing work days and spending money on

health treatments because they are exposed to bacteria in the water.

The researchers tallied a yearly number of 74,000 incidents of

stomach illness, respiratory disease and eye, ear and skin infections

they believe can be directly linked to exposure to ocean waters.

The results are striking: researchers crunched the numbers and

came up with a public cost of $3.3 million per year -- conservatively

-- in health-related expenses due to a polluted shoreline.

The worst of it is that, during the study period, these beaches

had logged “acceptable” bacteria count levels, the researchers

report.

But don’t go throwing away your boogie boards. While a

multimillion-dollar loss is nothing to sneeze at, the actual numbers

tell a story that is not quite so dire.

Although 74,000 incidents of illness is a lot of misery, there are

5 million visitors to those same beaches every year. That means one

in every 67 beachgoers got sick, about one-tenth of a percent.

The other story came the next day from Orange County Dist. Atty.

Tony Rackauckas, who wants us all to know that he’s making progress

in forcing three oil companies -- Shell, Thrifty and Atlantic

Richfield/ARCO/BP -- to clean up their acts.

The companies were found to have allowed their underground gas

tanks to leak, polluting ground water -- and ultimately, the ocean --

with chemicals including the notorious MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl

ether), which has shut down water wells in the Los Angeles area.

While the gas tanks themselves were not in Laguna -- the

investigations took place in Anaheim, Fullerton, Orange and Santa Ana

-- they are all in “upstream” cities whose runoff eventually reaches

the shoreline and ends up contaminating coastal waters.

Under a court judgment, the companies will have to pay $100

million in cleanup costs, and the county will get an immediate

“rebate” of $2 million.

Good job, Mr. Rackauckas.

They say eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, and it also

may be the price of environmental health.