Dumping by Caltrans Alleged : Environment: State wildlife agency says workers deposited highway debris into a creek. Criminal charges will be sought.

In a case called the worst example ever of stream pollution in Southern California, state wildlife officials are preparing criminal charges against Caltrans employees, alleging that millions of pounds of highway debris was dumped in a protected mountain trout stream.

Two officials of the Department of Fish and Game handling the investigation say that a five-mile stretch of Deep Creek in the San Bernardino Mountains has been polluted by asphalt and other toxic, petroleum-based materials.

They also said Caltrans employees have been the most uncooperative parties they have ever dealt with in a pollution case, and that the agency has done nothing to clean the stream despite repeated warnings since late November.

The contaminants, removed from California 18 during a resurfacing project last year, were deposited in and alongside the creek between Running Springs and Snow Valley, said Rick Coelho, a Fish and Game warden based in Big Bear. Some of the water in Deep Creek has turned black from the ground-up asphalt and other road debris, he said.

“In one location, they took four or five dump-truck loads and poured (them) into the creek,” said Coelho, who is investigating the case. “We have one area of the creek that has been silted so bad that I’m sure everything is dead there.”

Caltrans spokeswoman Deborah Robertson in San Bernardino called the threatened prosecution “strange,” because “we have been working with Fish and Game to address the cleanup operation.” She declined to reveal any details of the ongoing talks.

Caltrans officials also said Monday that the disposal of asphalt grindings along roadways is standard practice in their road projects, and that if any hazardous material got into the creek it was accidental.

The dumping along Deep Creek, however, appears to have violated Caltrans’ policy for asphalt disposal. A 1985 memo signed by Caltrans deputy director W. E. Schaefer alerted all personnel “to take steps to assure that the disposal of material containing asphalt concrete in stream beds does not recur. All existing and future permits should be reviewed with our contractors to assure that they have a clear understanding that asphalt material is not to be placed in streams.”

Also, the agency’s standard contract used in all road projects says that all removed materials “shall be disposed of outside the highway right of way.”

Deep Creek is a state-designated wild trout stream--one of only two in the San Bernardino Mountains--which means it is a rare resource, still in its natural state, with special value to fish and wildlife. Rainbow and brown trout spawn in the willow-lined stream, which also serves as habitat for black bear, deer, cougars and other area mammals. There have been no reports of dead fish or harm to wildlife.

Coelho said Monday that he plans to take the case to the San Bernardino County district attorney, possibly today, alleging 39 misdemeanors by two Caltrans employees in San Bernardino as well as two contracting companies and one of their employees.

He declined to name the Caltrans employees or the private firms. Caltrans records show that E. L. Yeager Construction of Riverside is the contractor for the project. Yeager officials were unavailable to comment Monday.

Coelho stressed that although contractors did the work, Caltrans has a resident engineer at each site to oversee the projects and has the responsibility to ensure that laws are followed.

“There are obvious violations, and some involve activities of Caltrans employees and some involve contractors,” said Gordon Cribbs, Fish and Game’s regional patrol chief.

Coelho estimated that as much as 14 million pounds of the petroleum-based debris was deposited in or alongside Deep Creek, based on the project’s Caltrans contract. He said he discovered the disposal in late November and notified Caltrans then, but that the agency has ignored the warnings.

A Dec. 17 letter to Caltrans from Fish and Game’s regional headquarters demanded removal of the asphalt and all pollutants by Dec. 31. Caltrans, in a statement on Dec. 18, agreed to cooperate, but Coelho said Monday that none of the debris has been removed.

“The arrogance (of the Caltrans employees) is beyond belief,” said Coelho, a Fish and Game warden for 12 years. “I’ve arrested people for homicide that have acted better than this.”

Robertson, the Caltrans spokeswoman, denied all of the allegations and said Coelho was at the construction site during the disposal operation and approved of it.

“The warden that is now questioning the work was out there during the whole duration of that project,” she said. “He was there in the area observing the operation.”

Robertson said the asphalt was removed from the highway, ground into small pieces, then placed alongside the road and creek as backing for the road’s shoulder. Robertson said Caltrans does not consider asphalt a hazardous material.

Caltrans officials also say the area is now too difficult and unsafe to clean up because several feet of snow have fallen in the past couple of weeks.

Coelho called the allegation that he approved the work ludicrous and said that the first time he saw the creek damage was Nov. 22, when the work was completed. The construction took place last summer and fall.

As for the snowfall, Fish and Game officials said Caltrans workers had about a month to clean up the stream bed before the snow fell.

“I’m extremely frustrated that it hasn’t been cleaned up and I don’t buy any of the excuses they are giving,” said Mike Giusti, the Fish and Game fisheries biologist in charge of stream beds in Southern California.

Fish and Game officials fear that petroleum-based compounds found in asphalt might slowly kill Deep Creek’s fish and destroy its ecosystem, including insects and vegetation that support fish.

“The only thing worse as far as I’m concerned is an oil spill,” Giusti said. “But with an oil spill, you get immediate response. That is not true here.”

Coelho and Giusti also said Caltrans’ contention that the material was shoulder backing is unlikely because the materials are as far as 45 feet from the road, up and down embankments.

Howard Sarasohn, Fish and Game deputy director in Sacramento, said that he has gotten assurances from top Caltrans officials in Sacramento that the creek will be cleaned up.