Van de Kamp Attacks Wilson on Sewage Compliance

Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Van de Kamp attacked Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson on his home turf Tuesday over the question of water quality in the ocean off San Diego.

Van de Kamp charged that, when Wilson was mayor of San Diego a dozen years ago, he “sought to evade the secondary sewage treatment requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.”

On the third day of his official tour of California to announce his candidacy for governor, Van de Kamp charged that Wilson has cost San Diego residents “millions of dollars” by his failure to comply with the act and therefore qualify for federal cleanup funds.

As a result, Van de Kamp said, the city no longer qualifies for the money that would have paid for the secondary treatment of sewage dumped into the ocean.

“Every day, enough partially treated sewage to fill Jack Murphy Stadium is flushed into the waters off San Diego,” Van de Kamp said as he stood looking out over San Diego Bay. “Over the past seven years, there have been nearly 2,000 spills of raw sewage.

“When that happens, beaches are closed. Fish and birds and swimmers are exposed to disease. An important piece of the California dream is degraded.

“Those are disgusting moments, but they are not rare in California. And they throw into sharp contrast the choices that confront the voters in 1990.”

Asked about the Van de Kamp charges Tuesday, Wilson spokesman Otto Bos said: “Pete Wilson went back to Washington and argued with the EPA that, based on a number of opinions by scientists, it is a waste of money to spend money on secondary treatment for sewage. It also rings hollow for Van de Kamp to come to San Diego and criticize Pete on this coastal issue when Van de Kamp refused to join Pete and many Democrats in opposing the drilling of oil in the Pacific Palisades” in Los Angeles County.

In other remarks Tuesday, Van de Kamp once again challenged Wilson, the presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee, to support the so-called Big Green environmental initiative Van de Kamp hopes to qualify for the November ballot. The initiative would be one of the most sweeping environmental measures ever passed in the country and, among other things, would end the dumping of improperly treated sewage in California.

“Everyone in this race for governor goes to the beaches after the sewers overflow or the oil spills hit and promises to protect the environment,” Van de Kamp said. “But where were they before disaster struck? Were they there to make the hard choices that would have kept this filth off the beaches?”