Surf City Pleads Guilty in Felony Pollution Case

The city of Huntington Beach, in a highly unusual admission of criminal culpability, pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony charges for allowing millions of gallons of raw sewage to leak from aging underground pipes.

Mayor Pam Julien Houchen appeared in court as the defendant, responding “guilty” as a prosecutor read the three charges of violating state water laws by knowingly discharging pollutants from the decayed sewage system. Such criminal charges against a municipality in a pollution case are extremely rare, legal experts said.

Superior Court Commissioner Martin G. Engquist placed the city on five years’ probation, during which officials must cooperate with a cleanup order already filed by a state water quality agency. The city also agreed to spend $250,000 to assess and clean up damage from years of leaking sewage.

Several officials said Wednesday that the city is now considering a $5-per-home sewer fee that could help fund a new sewer system. Parts of the current system date back to 1910.

The charges cap a lengthy investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s environmental protection unit and state water officials that involved testimony before the county grand jury.

Experts said that while criminal cases are increasingly common against private businesses that pollute, charging a government agency remains extremely rare because of the difficulty in finding clear evidence of wrongdoing.

The Huntington Beach case, however, benefited from videotapes shot by the city in 1996 that showed widespread leaks in the 600 miles of pipes that snake beneath its streets.

Strapped for money, the city put off completing the repairs until last year--allowing as much as 71,000 gallons of raw sewage to leak every day. During this period, the city failed to report the leaks to three local and state agencies as required by law.

“These were serious leaks that occurred over a lengthy period of time, and they were unreported,” Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said. “What we’ve done today is put the city under the supervision of the court.”

City officials acknowledged that they did not inform other agencies about the problem, though some complained that the district attorney’s aggressive action was ill-advised.

A lawyer for the city expressed fear that the prosecution might have a chilling effect, with some cities deciding not to inspect their sewer systems for fear of what they might find.

“It’s a shame [Huntington Beach was] singled out, because they took steps where no one else did to protect their citizens by inspecting the sewer lines,” said Gary Pohlson, a criminal defense lawyer retained by the city. “So for them to be punished is kind of ironic. . . .

“My concern is [that] other cities who don’t have the money to fix it will keep their eyes closed.”

Prosecutors disagreed. If Huntington Beach had reported its leaks as required, other agencies might have been able to help find funding for the repairs, said Senior Assistant Dist. Atty. Robert C. Gannon Jr.

“It was unfortunate, because they may have been able to take care of this problem much, much earlier,” Gannon said.

The Huntington Beach case underscores a problem that cities throughout Southern California might increasingly face as the region begins to age, officials said. Rackauckas said he hopes the penalties Huntington Beach is facing serve as a warning to agencies throughout the state.

The city insists that the millions of gallons of raw sewage that escaped from the pipes had nothing to do with bacterial problems that fouled the waters off the city’s famous shores for two months during the summer of 1999. Beach closures that summer angered residents and devastated retail sales.

Prosecutors, however, said it’s premature to reach that conclusion. Gannon said one reason prosecutors insisted on the $250,000 assessment and cleanup as part of the sentence is to determine the damage caused by years of leakage and neglect.

“I don’t see how you can rule that out,” Gannon said. “Further work needs to be done, and I’m confident the city is going to do it.”

Because the charges carried fines of up to $50,000 per day, Huntington Beach faced a maximum fine of more than $54 million. Prosecutors agreed to the plea bargain because of the city’s promise to correct the problem.

City officials said they have already spent $4 million to “slipcover” leaking pipes, eliminating all leaks.

“We were more interested in having them spend the money to clean up,” Gannon said.

The next big step will come this summer when the City Council considers the proposed $5-per-home sewer charge. The city would need $127 million in revenue over 20 years to rehabilitate and maintain the sewer system, according to spokesman Rich Barnard.

“I don’t see any way out of it,” Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. “We have to fix the sewers in Huntington Beach. We have to protect the public’s health.”

The criminal charges were met with wide support--and some surprise--from environmental groups, which said the action sends a loud message to government agencies that they will be held accountable for pollution they generate.

“A criminal penalty is very significant because it’s very unusual,” said David Beckman, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “You rarely see criminal prosecutions, and even more rare are situations where defendants plead guilty to criminal charges.”

Beckman and others said the instances of governments being held liable have come through civil judgments, not felony criminal cases.

One exception occurred in West Virginia, where state prosecutors filed criminal charges against the city of Fayetteville in 1999 after city employees allegedly dumped industrial sludge in the city’s water supply. Environmentalists and state prosecutors could think of no similar case in California.

The San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation has been encouraging district attorneys around the state to prosecute government agencies that violate state environmental regulations.

“The assault on our coastal environment is a war. It’s great to see shots fired in defense of the environment. That’s what this is,” said Christopher Evans, executive director of the Surfrider Foundation.

The city’s guilty plea came after secret negotiations that lasted a little more than two months. A lawyer for the city first contacted Orange County prosecutors in January, in the midst of the grand jury proceedings, Gannon said.

By placing the city on probation, prosecutors can ensure that any problems related to the leaks are fixed.

“It’s one thing to stop the leaks; it’s another to clean up the matter that’s leaked out,” Gannon said.

* Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.