Eased Penalties for Water Pollution OKd

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday ended a tense environmental battle inside and outside his administration by signing legislation easing criminal penalties against industries for polluting state waterways.

Up to the moment Wilson acted on the bill, (SB 649) by Sen. Jim Costa (D-Fresno), environmentalists were calling the measure a dangerous retreat from long-standing water purity protections, while business groups accused opponents of exaggerating the consequences.

In signing the bill, Wilson said “government should not tell a regulated party” that its permit allows certain discharges into waterways, and “then turn around and prosecute the party for the very conduct allowed by the permit.”

Wilson also said he was directing Department of Fish and Game officials and the state Water Resources Control Board to produce a “single set of regulations [to avoid] harm to fish and wildlife.”

Opposed by county district attorneys and game wardens, the measure changes a 100-year-old law by making it harder for prosecutors to bring criminal charges after accidental spills of oil or chemicals into state streams, rivers and the ocean.

Opponents were adamant that Wilson had surrendered important protections to commercial interests.

By removing the prospect of criminal sanctions, the bill closes the door on holding an estimated 23,000 companies responsible for their actions if they pollute, said environmental lobbyist Don Fields.

The California Dist. Attys. Assn., the state League of Women Voters and the Sierra Club, among others, made similar statements.

But a range of business and agricultural interests, with passion matching their rivals, said the new rules bring a dose of fairness to state environmental policy.

“It’s an important regulatory reform,” said Allan Zaremberg, a lobbyist for the California Chamber of Commerce.

He said opponents were “inaccurate and using scare tactics,” to charge, for example, that taking away prosecutors’ authority would mean that industries holding discharge permits presented a new threat to clean water.

“I don’t know of any [discharge] permit that would [allow poisoning of] fish and wildlife,” he said.

Included in the discussions on the bill by Wilson’s aides were at least two high-ranking dissenters within the administration.

Both James Strock, a Cabinet member and head of the state Environmental Protection Agency, and Jacqueline Schafer, director of the Fish and Game Department, had initially called on Wilson to veto the bill.

“Strock feels very strongly about the enforcement provisions” of the present law, which holds polluters and legal dischargers of waste to strict standards of criminal liability for violations, said Dan Pellissier, a Cal/EPA spokesman, last week.

In a letter to her boss July 1, Schafer told Wilson she disagreed with provisions that blocked criminal citations by her department. On Monday, she said her objections were overcome with Wilson’s assurance that Fish and Game officials and water officials would work together to ensure wildlife protection.

To reach Wilson’s desk, the bill passed with votes to spare in the Senate and the Assembly, driven by solid Republican and farm district Democratic support.

Its proponents pointed to a part of the bill that allows companies that are responsible for spills to escape criminal sanctions by moving quickly to “mitigate” the effects and stop the flow before it reaches state waters.

Opponents mostly emphasized how companies could be held criminally blameless as long as discharges were allowed under the terms of their permits. Such permits, they said, may or may not contain adequate environmental protections.

Other bills signed by Wilson on Monday, the last day to enact legislation, were:

* A bill by state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange) that scraps smog-fighting requirements for many Southland firms. Businesses with fewer than 250 employees will be freed of requirements to fund ride sharing or other pollution-fighting efforts.

* A bill by Assemblyman Fred Aguiar (R-Chino) allowing continued health benefits to families of peace officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

* A measure by Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-Burlingame) directing the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue new and renewal licenses for most of California’s 19.5 million motorists for five years instead of four and raising the fee from $12 to $15.