Surcharge Proposed for Ground Water Cleanup
During a special state Senate hearing on San Gabriel Valley ground water pollution, Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier) proposed Monday that water suppliers should immediately impose a surcharge on residential and commercial customers to help finance part of the $1-billion cleanup.
Calderon suggested that customers pay for $60 million in treatment plants recommended by state and federal officials.
He did not offer specifics on how the idea would be carried out. State Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), who chaired the hearing in San Gabriel, raised an objection, asking, “Why should the victims of contamination have to pay for their own cleanup?”
Torres scheduled the hearing by his Senate Committee on Toxics and Public Safety Management in the hope that it would prompt more action on the ground-water cleanup.
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