Corridor Gets OK to Release Unclean Water

Over the stringent objections of environmentalists, the Regional Water Quality Control Board on Monday allowed work to resume on the Alameda Corridor and for the $2.4-billion project to resume releasing water that exceeds cleanliness standards into a tributary of the Los Angeles River.

Board members were swayed by arguments from corridor officials, who earlier this month ceased construction work that resulted in the discharge of ground water into Compton Creek and say they have since suffered losses of $500,000 a day. They are building a $3-million pipeline to convey the runoff into a less ecologically sensitive area and said that any further delay could jeopardize the massive project.

“We have attempted to do the right thing,” said James C. Hankla, the corridor agency’s chief executive officer. “There have been no surprises, no hiding the ball.”

Environmental groups contended that the permits issued to the corridor agency last fall were illegal because regulators even then had indications that samples of ground water along the corridor’s route exceeded quality limits. They sharply criticized Monday’s decision.

“That’s blatantly illegal,” said Steve Fleischli, executive director of Santa Monica Baykeeper, in an interview minutes after the vote. “The system has failed.”

But the board’s attorney said the permits were legal and board Chairman H. David Nahai said the decision was appropriate. “This is within this board’s discretion,” he said. “Otherwise, we would be penalizing the [corridor authority] for making discharges that were initially approved.”

To complete the corridor, a 20-mile route from downtown Los Angeles to the county’s fast-growing ports, builders must be authorized to remove as much as 18 million gallons of ground water and runoff from construction sites daily during the next 18 months. The corridor’s path winds through some of the county’s most polluted regions, old industrial sites rife with contaminated soil and water wells.

On Dec. 10, corridor agency officials ceased construction work in the troubled area in Compton after the water board delayed allowing them to exceed clean-water standards. Corridor officials told the board they have been forced to lay off 100 workers and suspend a crucial segment as the project enters its key phase, the building of a 10-mile trench along Alameda Street.

“Absent an ability to discharge ground water, this project is in peril,” Hankla said to the board, reading a statement from Jeffrey Kellog, the chairman of the corridor agency. He cited support from Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill for the discharge to continue.

The corridor has proposed discharging its water into the Dominguez Channel in Carson. To do that, it will have to use a new process to neutralize metals in its runoff before depositing the water in that channel, because the water there is already contaminated. The board allowed the corridor agency to continue to discharge into Compton Creek until Feb. 1, at which time it will need to demonstrate that it can neutralize the metals that will go into Dominguez Channel.

Hankla also pledged to remove 150% of all contaminants that ultimately end up in the channel, leaving it cleaner than it was before. “We consider ourselves an environmental agency,” he said.

Environmental groups said the corridor was receiving favorable treatment. “What we have here is an attempt to deflect the issue and not deal with it because it would have consequences for a discharger who has a project that lots of people like,” said David Beckman, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council.

Under state law, the corridor agency must be penalized for its prior violations of clean-water standards. Water board staff said that under legislation taking effect Jan. 1, the fines could range from $18,000 to a whopping $800 million.

Board members told staff to recommend a possible penalty, which could include separate environmental projects such as bike paths along contaminated areas, but urged sensitivity to what they called the corridor agency’s willingness to cooperate.

“They have acted in good faith,” said board member Susan Cloke.