To City, Spill Fine Is Unfair

Already fighting one huge fine for a 1998 sewage spill that shut down 29 miles of Ventura County beaches, the city of Thousand Oaks took issue Wednesday with another fine for a sewage spill last month.

City Atty. Mark Sellers was concerned that a new fine of $229,460 for the most recent spill might be retaliation for the city’s legal fight against a record $2.3-million fine for the spill three years ago.

“We’re very troubled here,” Sellers said. “I hope it’s not a retaliatory action. I hope they’re not trying to coerce us.” The city plans to appeal the penalty.

The new fine, equal to more than $7.60 per gallon, was issued by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board for a 30,000-gallon spill discovered Aug. 21. This came as the city was disputing its fine for a sewer line break that spilled 86 million gallons of raw sewage into the Arroyo Conejo Creek that eventually reached the Pacific.

The recent spill, which the city maintains was closer to 15,000 gallons, occurred when a partially open valve caused a sewage backup.

Water quality officials, who can set fines from less than a penny up to $10 per gallon spilled, said the latest fine is warranted.

“This is a clear case of not taking enough care,” said Dennis Dickerson, the water quality board’s executive director. “It’s clearly an order of magnitude different from many spills that occur. It’s appropriate that it be treated rather strongly.”

Dickerson said his agency has been working on being tougher after years of complaints that it was too lenient. He said the board was on track to issue about 100 fines this year--up from only 10 as recently as 1997.

Thousand Oaks’ Sellers maintains his city’s fine is exorbitantly high, comparing it with lesser penalties against other cities in Ventura County that had spills. But officials point to different circumstances and say the agency’s staff is given latitude in making enforcement decisions.

Thousand Oaks has had trouble with its sewage system for years. Over a three-day period in 1989, about 800,000 gallons of raw sewage were discharged. In 1995, 12 million gallons spilled in one week.

In July 1998, five months after the city’s 86-million-gallon spill, the state water board determined 14,400 gallons of raw sewage were being improperly discharged from the plant each day.

A federal criminal investigation of the massive spill which began that year is still ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office would not comment Wednesday on its progress. The city has already spent about $1 million for attorneys and expert witnesses to fight the fine.

Thousand Oaks has appealed its fine to the state Supreme Court and is awaiting a ruling.

Mark Gold, executive director of the Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay, applauded the latest fine Wednesday and said it was appropriate.

“I think the Regional Water Quality Control Board is clearly sending a message: Thousand Oaks is a repeat violator that has still not cleaned up its act,” Gold said. “Perhaps [the city] should spend more on preventing these spills than on legal action to fight the fines.”

Sellers said argued that the latest spill was a one-time occurrence, that it was not related to the previous large-scale spill and that there was no evidence of long-term damage.