Torres Seeks Super Panel for Water Cleanup

State Sen. Art Torres announced Wednesday that he has introduced legislation to create a regional “super agency” to oversee cleanup of the San Gabriel Valley’s severe ground water pollution, one of the worst problems of its kind in the West.

In addition, at a South El Monte news conference, Torres (D-Los Angeles) said he submitted a bill Tuesday to create an annual $20-million “superfund” to finance cleanup of ground water contamination throughout California, including the San Gabriel Valley.

A key issue in the region’s lingering pollution problem is that no single governmental agency has the ability to finance or supervise the cleanup, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Torres said the legislation is needed because governmental and water authorities “have been floundering.”

Local water agencies, including the newly created Main San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority, maintain that they could take the lead if they were granted additional powers.

Linn E. Magoffin, head of the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster, which oversees water rights in the valley, said of Torres’ super-agency plan: “. . . He has gone too far. His bill is a club. He’s going to pound people into submission. Based on my 40 years in the water business, it’s not going to work.”

But Maxine Leichter, head of the water quality committee of the Sierra Club’s Angeles Chapter, said the legislation “is absolutely essential.”

Earlier this year, a task force organized by Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park) and Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente) recommended such legislation.

“The citizens of the San Gabriel Valley deserve this kind of legislation,” Esteban Torres said. “And I hope (Sen. Torres) will . . . shepherd it through.”

But Tanner, who has long discussed the possibility of submitting super-agency legislation, on Wednesday said she was stunned. “Totally politically motivated,” she said of the bills by Torres, who is running for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

One bill calls for the super agency to be led by a 13-member board to be made up of representatives including those appointed by water districts and the San Gabriel Valley Assn. of Cities. The superfund would be financed by a tax on industries and businesses.