EPA Misses Deadline for Sewage Ruling

The federal Environmental Protection Agency missed a congressional deadline last week for a decision on whether to require more intensive treatment of sewage being pumped into the ocean off the Palos Verdes Peninsula at a rate of 380 million gallons a day.

Under an amendment to an appropriations bill signed into law last month, Congress told the EPA to decide by Nov. 30 whether to exempt the giant Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts sewage plant in Carson from tighter treatment standards.

The measure was enacted at the request of U.S. Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica), who says a federal ruling on the exemption is long overdue. But the EPA never promised to meet the deadline, telling The Times last month that it was considering the sanitation districts’ request for a waiver “as expeditiously as we can.”

The sanitation districts, which expressed fear last month that the time limit would hurt its chances to receive a fair hearing, welcomed news that the EPA had not produced a ruling by Friday.

“We don’t think science responds particularly well to deadlines,” sanitation districts spokesman Joe Haworth said Saturday. “We’re grateful that at least they’re taking their time to make a decision.”