‘Clean Up San Diego Bay’ Panel in the Works

A “Clean Up San Diego Bay” plan that includes creation of a nine-member panel of environmental experts and government representatives was announced Friday by Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego).

The panel is one part of Bates’ five-point plan to rid the bay of pollution following revelations, including a study done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that “San Diego Bay is among the nation’s most polluted bays.”

At the heart of Bates’s proposal is development of a comprehensive annual monitoring program for the bay. “Historically, there has never been a comprehensive plan. This has meant that previous studies of the bay have not been able to clearly inform us as to the extent of the problem. It is important that we find out if the pollution described in these studies is endemic to the entire bay or found only in isolated ‘hot spots,’ ” according to a statement released by Bates.

Another part of the five-point plan concerns possible sources of federal funding to carry out a monitoring program and clean-up program. Other parts include a recommendation that the federal Environmental Protection Agency reassert its jurisdiction over the bay because the state Regional Water Quality Control Board, according to Bates, has been lax in its enforcement procedures, and that lawsuits be filed to force compliance by the water board.

Exactly how Bates’s plan to start a comprehensive monitoring study would work is unclear. The water quality board, according to Peter Michael, the biologist in charge, already is in the first year of a five-year $933,000 study designed to identify the source and extent of bay pollution problems such as those caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the South Bay; tributyltin (TBT), a toxic compound caused by the accumulation of boat paint residues; oil spills from the shore, and storm water discharges.

The water board study also will examine the effects of pollution on bay fish and the level of contamination in sport fish eaten by humans, Michael said.

The nine members of Bates’ panel--which will work to both implement the five-point plan and coordinate the proposal with other governmental agencies--include Diane Takvorian, Sharon Taylor and Sonya Holmquist, all members of the Environmental Health Coalition; Dr. Cedric Garland, a professor of medicine at UC San Diego; Dr. Craig Barilotti, a marine biologist at Kelco, the San Diego kelp processing company; Norma Scheuneman, a member of the Regional Water Quality Control Board; Corky Wharton, a member of the University of San Diego’s Environmental Law Clinic; a member of the Sierra Club not yet chosen, and Kim Berger, an aide to Bates.