McCarthy, in Jab at Wilson, Sues Oil Firms Under Prop. 65

Democratic Senate candidate Leo T. McCarthy, using Proposition 65 to attack U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson on the issue of toxic pollution, filed a major enforcement action Thursday, accusing eight oil companies of polluting the state’s ground water.

Using the authority available to any citizen, McCarthy targeted 174 storage tanks he said have been identified by the state as leaking cancer-causing chemicals into California’s ground water. It could result in penalties for the oil companies of up to $400,000 a day until the leaking tanks are cleaned up, the lieutenant governor said.

McCarthy’s enforcement action is the first filed under a tough provision of Proposition 65 that took effect only a week ago banning the discharge of carcinogenic chemicals into the state’s drinking water supply. Among those McCarthy accused of contaminating the water are Chevron USA Inc., Unocal Corp., Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Co., Texaco Inc. and Atlantic Richfield Co.

Highlights Differences

Oil industry spokesmen, however, said the seepage of chemicals from tanks used primarily to store gasoline has already been halted in the cases singled out by McCarthy. In many instances, the tanks have already been repaired, they said. In others, the companies are laying plans to clean up the contaminated soil around the tanks.

“We believe that Mr. McCarthy’s claims about Chevron are false, and we resent him making politically volatile statements a few days before the election,” said Chevron Vice President John Dewes.

By bringing the action against the oil companies, McCarthy sought to highlight his differences with Wilson, who took no stand on Proposition 65 when it was overwhelmingly approved by the voters two years ago. The Democratic challenger also charged that Wilson has accepted $130,000 in campaign contributions from the oil industry and $160,000 from chemical manufacturers.

“These were among Proposition 65’s biggest opponents, and now they’re among Pete Wilson’s best friends,” McCarthy charged at a press conference outside the Los Angeles County Courthouse. “I’m here to use Proposition 65--the law Pete Wilson would not support--to force the oil companies to clean up the toxic liquids that have leaked from their tanks.”

McCarthy, who is running an uphill race in his bid to unseat Wilson, seemed to pull out all the stops Thursday as he hit Wilson hard on the toxics issue. Democratic strategists think that the Republican senator is vulnerable on the question of toxic pollution. And they believe that it is a key issue for swing Democratic voters, who could make the difference in this campaign.

In what appeared to be a coordinated effort to zero in on Wilson’s record on toxics, a coalition of environmental groups in San Francisco criticized the senator’s votes on hazardous chemicals and heaped praise on McCarthy.

‘High Levels of Support’

“Wilson has received very high levels of support from the chemical industry over the past four years . . . and has tended to vote in favor of legislation that makes toxic contamination and exposure more widespread,” said a report issued by the Boston-based National Toxics Campaign. Among its members are Greenpeace and Citizens for a Better Environment.

Wilson, who spent the day traveling along the central coast of California to promote his environmental views, defended his record on toxics, saying that he had voted a number of times to increase protection for the public.

“Obviously, you can’t have discharge of toxics or pollutants in a way that endangers ground water, which is why I have, as a federal officeholder, taken action to safeguard public health,” Wilson said in a telephone interview.

In particular, Wilson said, he had voted for increased funds for toxic cleanup, sponsored legislation to clean up hazardous waste on military bases and carried an amendment prohibiting the federal government from preempting state pesticide regulation programs.

The senator took offense to criticism of the campaign donations he has received, saying that he has sometimes voted against the interests of his contributors. Wilson also contended that McCarthy has long been the “happy recipient” of contributions from corporations and organized labor.

“He was the bag man for special interests as Speaker of the Assembly,” the senator charged.

Wilson, who has been stressing his environmental record throughout the campaign, pledged during a stop in Goleta that he will introduce legislation setting aside more than 250,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest as wilderness. He also said that he will seek to protect 73 miles of three Central California rivers by designating them as “wild and scenic.”

McCarthy’s filing of an enforcement action gives state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and other local prosecutors the option during the next 60 days of taking over the case. If they do not step in, McCarthy can pursue the case in court himself.

In fact, Van de Kamp recently took over a case filed by environmentalists charging that 25 tobacco companies and eight supermarket chains had violated the warning requirements of Proposition 65 by failing to notify customers that cigars, pipe tobacco and loose-leaf tobacco can cause cancer. In that case, the tobacco companies quickly agreed to put warning labels on their products.

David Roe, a lawyer for the Environmental Defense Fund and a co-author of Proposition 65, praised McCarthy’s action, saying that it will speed cleanup of about 8,000 known leaking storage tanks throughout the state, including 2,000 that are contaminating ground water.

But Dave Arrieta, an environmental official for Chevron, said McCarthy was off base in attacking the oil industry because it has already moved to correct the leaking tank problem. He contended that the list of tanks used by McCarthy, which was compiled by state water boards, is out of date.