Wilson’s Vetoes Draw Fire From Groups Devoted to Ocean’s Health

Environmental groups charged Wednesday that Gov. Pete Wilson largely abdicated his responsibility to help clean and protect California’s ocean waters when he vetoed a series of regulatory bills.

Leaders of Heal the Bay and the Center for Marine Conservation said they took some consolation that Wilson signed a bill designed to force thousands of businesses to identify the pollutants they dump into storm drains.

But the two organizations were mostly disparaging, saying the governor killed legislation that would have expanded toxic cleanups, clarified rules for creating marine reserves, and planned for the reduction of polluted runoff from farms and other sources.

“The governor had a chance to have a major legacy on clean water and ocean protection, and at this point it looks like he blew it,” said Warner Chabot, Pacific region director of the Center for Marine Conservation.

Wilson’s spokesman, Sean Walsh, said the administration is “leading the nation” in environmental programs.

“But these issues should be approached based on sound science and sound studies,” he said. “You don’t legislate before you have the science that backs you.”

The environmental organizations said Wilson’s veto of a toxic cleanup bill made no sense. After California spent six years and $16 million to catalog toxic hot spots in the ocean, the governor vetoed a bill that would have helped clean up the messes, they said.

Wilson’s rejection of the cleanup, which might have cost up to $100 million over a decade, leaves hot spots in Marina del Rey, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the San Francisco Bay, among other locations, the environmentalists said.

Fish in some of those locations contain high levels of potentially cancer-causing toxins.

“The state went to the trouble of finding this pollution, but there is no funding or serious commitment to clean it up,” said Steve Fleischli, legal and policy analyst for Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay. “Lots of poor people are continuing to eat contaminated fish from those waters.”

Diane Richardson, Wilson’s deputy legislative secretary for environmental resources, said the toxic cleanups are already adequately addressed in federal environmental statutes. She said the legislation would have preempted state water officials already ordered to draw a cleanup plan. It also would have limited compensation that could be collected from some polluters.

The environmental organizations suggested that Wilson’s veto of another measure was a result of his strong financial backing from agribusiness. That bill would have required the state to make plans for reducing pesticides and other pollutants flowing from farms, as well as highways and parking lots.

Again, the governor said the proposal duplicated measures already being taken by the federal and state government.

Finally, the groups hit Wilson for failing to support what they said is a more coherent, scientific procedure for deciding which sections of the California coast should have special protection. Currently, more than 100 locations are given some special designation as preserves or refuges, but taking marine life is prohibited in only a few.

Last year, Wilson vetoed a plan to create a Malibu Marine Refuge, which would have prohibited sport and commercial fishing on a portion of the beach town’s 27-mile coast.

The governor said he did not want to create such protected zones in a piecemeal fashion.

Environmentalists responded with a bill that was designed to create uniform, scientifically rigorous methods to determine which portions of the coastline, if any, should gain refuge status.

Wilson responded with a veto, saying that his state Department of Fish and Game is taking an inventory of the marine sanctuaries as a first step toward deciding if more protective zones are needed.

“The governor says he already has a plan for creating these protected areas, but he doesn’t,” Chabot said. “That’s just not true.”

The environmentalists had some kind words for Wilson, as well.

They praised his signing of legislation by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) that will force the state to enforce storm water permits, like the one approved by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board two years ago.

That permit was heralded as a breakthrough in limiting the witches brew of pesticides, fertilizer, oil, grease and other substances washed from storm drains into Santa Monica Bay. But only 2,500 of as many as 25,000 businesses have complied with a requirement that they register with local water officials and declare the substances they dump in drains.

The law will allow the water board to fine businesses a minimum of $1,000 if they fail to register or to annually update storm water reports.

“This was a very significant step by the governor toward cleaning up Santa Monica Bay,” said Fleischli. “We are very pleased.”