L.A. 1986 : DIRTY WORK

Culminating a nine-year battle over the dumping of sludge into Santa Monica Bay, Los Angeles agreed to pay a $625,000 fine by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for violating the Clean Water Act. The city, which missed deadlines in 1980 and 1985 to stop dumping the concentrated sewage, promised this time to stop doing so by Dec. 31, 1987, and also vowed to complete construction of the Hyperion Energy Recovery System incineration facility by June 30, 1989. Meanwhile, signs that read “Caution: Contaminated Water” became a new feature of Santa Monica beaches.

A measure by state Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) to ban dumping of untreated hazardous wastes in landfills by 1992 was signed into law as was a bill by Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-El Monte) to encourage the opening of new treatment centers and disposal sites for toxic wastes. Three bills by Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) designed to protect Santa Monica Bay from toxic pollution were also signed by Gov. George Deukmejian, while two were vetoed.

Smog season--which traditionally runs from April to October in Southern California--featured the fewest first-stage smog alerts in five years. Still, the South Coast Air Basin (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties) continued to fall short of federal Clean Air Act standards for ozone and carbon monoxide and was not expected to meet them until the next century, if then.