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More on McClellan
AFB wastewater problem
by Dan Bacher
September 14, 2008 -- The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
(CSPA) is seeking status as a "designated party" with state
water quality officials to stop increased discharge of toxic chemicals
into Central Valley waterways from the decommissioned McClellan Air
Force Base. The increased toxic discharge would further imperil
collapsing populations of Central Valley salmon, delta smelt, longfin
smelt, theadfin shad, striped bass and other species, as well as
endanger Sacramento area groundwater supplies.
In a strongly worded letter to the Central Valley Regional Water
Quality Control Board on September 10, Bill Jennings, CSPA's Executive
Director, formally requested status as a "designated party" in
the McClellan Air Force Base toxic waste disposal fiasco. CSPA's status
as a "designated party" would allow the grassroots
organization direct input into the renewal permit process to make sure
that toxic waste is not discharged into Central Valley waterways from
the base.
Magpie Creek flows through McClellan and for decades carried the
effluents of the Base's domestic and industrial waste treatment plants
into the Sacramento River through Steelhead Creek above the mouth of the
American River. McClellan is located approximately seven miles northeast
of Sacramento in Sacramento County and covers 2,952 acres. Operations at
the base involved the use, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials,
including industrial solvents, caustic cleaners, electroplating
chemicals, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), low-level
radioactive wastes, and various fuel oils and lubricants.
Opened in 1935, for the vast majority of its operational lifetime,
McClellan was a logistics and maintenance facility for a wide variety of
military aircraft, equipment and supplies, primarily under the
cognizance of the Air Force Logistics Command and later the Air Force
Material Command. Unfortunately, McClellan also became dumping ground
for the Air Force's toxic waste.
"When the base was decommissioned in the late 90's, it was found
that the operations at the facility had created a toxic wasteland,"
said Jennings. "A major cleanup of the facility was put in place
before large portions of the base were leased out to commercial
enterprises. The base received a waste water treatment discharge permit
as part of that clean up effort."
In reviewing the permits application for renewal, CSPA has discovered
that the requirements for discharge have been relaxed, allowing for a
backsliding in the treatment and isolation of numerous harmful chemicals
and other toxins that would be discharged into the valley waterways.
"The discharges would be in violation of numerous state and federal
standards and would put the valley fisheries at risk," Jennings
contends.
In his letter to Mr. Ken Landau, Assistant Executive Officer of the
Water Board, Jennings documented a plethora of violations of state and
federal environmental laws in the proposed permit.
For example, the proposed permit fails to contain mass-based effluent
limits for toxic chemicals including Carbon Tetrachloride, Chromium VI,
Dichlorobromomethane, 1,1-Dichloroethane, 1,2- Dichloroethane,
1,1-Dichloroethylene, Tetrachloroethylene, Trichloroethylene, Vinyl
Chloride and cis-1, 2-Dichloroethylene as required by Federal
Regulations 40 CFR 122.45(b).
The proposed Permit also contains an effluent limitation for acute
toxicity that allows mortality to aquatic life that exceeds the Basin
Plan water quality objective and does not comply with Federal
regulations, at 40 CFR 122.44 (d)(1)(i) or the Clean Water Act.
Nor does the Permit contain effluent limitations for chronic
toxicity, as required for compliance with Federal regulations, at 40 CFR
122.44 (d)(1)i) and the Policy for Implementation of Toxics Standards
for Inland Surface Waters, Enclosed Bays, and Estuaries of California
(SIP).
The release of more toxic discharges into Central Valley and
California Delta waterways would only further imperil collapsing Central
Valley chinook salmon and Delta fish populations. Four species of
pelagic fish species, including delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin
shad and striped bass, have declined to record low population levels in
recent years, due to increased water exports from the Delta, increasing
toxic chemical discharges in Central Valley waterways and an influx in
invasive species.
The last thing our collapsing public trust fisheries need is for the
water board to allow the increased dumping of toxic chemicals into the
Sacramento River and Delta!
For the complete letter by Jennings, go to http://www.calsport.org/wq9-10-08b.pdf