Deukmejian Tries to Downplay Taking of Toxics Role by EPA

An order quietly issued last week by the federal Environmental Protection Agency withdrawing California’s authority to approve permits for handling of toxic wastes was a matter of “paper work” and will soon be reversed, Gov. George Deukmejian said Tuesday.

The EPA, in a setback for the Deukmejian Administration’s beleaguered toxic cleanup efforts, took control over a wide range of toxics programs in California and five other states on Friday. The agency had cited failure to comply with requirements allowing states to maintain jurisdiction over their own toxics programs.

Deukmejian sought to downplay the federal action, saying it occurred because the state was seven days late in submitting proof that it complies with federal hazardous waste requirements.

“It’s not something that goes to the question of whether or not what the state is doing is harmful to the public safety or the public health,” Deukmejian told a press conference.

EPA officials, however, said that the problem goes well beyond a missed deadline and that California was unable in the documents that it submitted to explain the responsibilities of various state agencies charged with cleaning up hazardous wastes.

“Underneath that are some substantive issues that affect the long-term viability of (the state’s) hazardous waste program,” said John Wise, the EPA deputy regional administrator in San Francisco.

Five other states--Connecticut, Maine, New York, Ohio and West Virginia--also lost their authority to approve permits for handling toxics under the EPA order. The EPA did not publicize the action affecting California, but a Deukmejian spokesman said notification of it was made by telephone.

California and the other states had been given temporary authority to manage their toxics program under a 1976 federal law. But the authority ran out on Jan. 31 and the EPA said it did not have time to fully review California’s application for permanent authority, which was submitted in early November.

The order has no direct effect on the state’s efforts to clean up toxic waste sites. It means, however, that until the issue can be resolved, only the EPA will be able to make the final decisions on permits to transport, store, handle or dispose of toxic wastes.

The action comes at a particularly sensitive time for the Deukmejian Administration, which has been at loggerheads with the Democratic-controlled Legislature over the governor’s efforts to reorganize state agencies that deal with toxics. The EPA, in an unrelated action last year, issued a report highly critical of the state’s cleanup operations at three federal “Superfund” sites. That was followed by a disclosure that the FBI is investigating the state’s cleanup efforts.

At the press conference, Deukmejian conceded that his Administration has made “mistakes” in the handling of toxics. But he said he has been hampered by the action of Assembly Democrats who twice rejected his toxics reorganization plan.

The Legislature is expected to vote on a Democratic alternative to the governor’s plan Thursday, although Deukmejian has vowed to veto it.

Deukmejian said the Democrats are merely trying to use the issue to their “political advantage” and that the reorganization plan he authored would have helped resolve many of the problems cited by the EPA.

The EPA, Deukmejian said, “would prefer to see (toxics agencies) consolidated much like we’ve been trying to do with the reorganization plan.” The governor also chided the federal agency saying, “The EPA doesn’t have the most outstanding record of its own.”

“Frankly, if they want to take over the whole program, I’m willing to give it to them,” he quipped.

EPA’s Wise countered that a structural reorganization of the state’s bureaucracy “is not really the issue” and that the governor could have solved the problem merely by clearly designating that certain agencies are in charge of specific functions.

“It’s not really a question of how organizational boxes fit on a page, but a delineation of who has which roles so that we at the EPA and we of California are assured that someone is responsible and the job is done.”

Wise added that he is confident the problems can be resolved and that the state’s authority for granting permits can be restored sometime this spring. But he added that questions have been raised about why it took so long for the state to submit its application to the EPA when the Jan. 31 deadline had been known for more than a year.

Wise suggested that it is incorrect for Deukmejian to say that the state missed the filing deadline by seven days. Although federal law established a 90-day guideline for reviewing state plans, Wise said it is well-known that the reviews actually take six to 11 months to complete.