$1 Million to Clean Up Valley Water Is Vetoed by Deukmejian
Gov. George Deukmejian on Tuesday dealt a blow to efforts to clean up polluted San Gabriel Valley water by vetoing from the state budget $1 million earmarked for preliminary work on a proposed treatment plant for the area.
Bob Borzelleri, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Services, said the San Gabriel cleanup failed to rate as high on the state’s priority list as other cleanup programs elsewhere in the state.
Deukmejian cut $5 million for toxic cleanup programs statewide as part of $753 million he slashed from the overall budget. He signed the 1990-91 spending plan after a protracted battle with the Legislature.
The money for the San Gabriel Valley was earmarked to design and possibly begin construction of a treatment plant in the heavily polluted Azusa-Baldwin Park area. The appropriation was regarded as seed money for an $18-million-a-year state, federal and local drive to begin the cleanup.
Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park), who had sought the $1 million, said, “I’m furious. I’m horrified with him. I can’t believe it.”
Tanner suggested that through his veto, Deukmejian was attempting to pressure local water agencies to accept the expansion of the Azusa Landfill.
The state Water Resources Control Board last year approved the landfill expansion after the dump operators agreed to set aside $20 million for water cleanup. But local residents are fighting the dump expansion.
Tanner said the Deukmejian Administration believes “they are going to force us to accept the $20 million . . . and stop fighting” the dump operators.
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