Regulators Back Neighbors in Boeing Case

Los Angeles regulators Thursday rejected the Boeing Co.'s request to relax water-pollution limits at the Santa Susana Field Lab and said they plan to punish the company for nearly 50 water-quality violations at the site last year.

The decision by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board overruled a request by Boeing and the U.S. Air Force to weaken pollution limits on storm water flowing off the hilltop lab for four years.

Rather, the appointed board sided with environmentalists and lab neighbors who complained that Boeing has repeatedly violated its water-quality permit with impunity.

"The public has borne these costs and now it's time for the polluter to bear these costs," said board member Francine Diamond.

Water officials could not say what penalties Boeing might face for its past violations, but said they are working on an enforcement plan. Their decision also added new, more stringent pollution limits on water leaving the site and included a recommendation that Boeing hire an independent monitor to reassure community members that the test results are legitimate.

The field lab is a 2,800-acre property at the top of the Simi Hills, on the Ventura-Los Angeles county line. Starting in the late 1940s, scientists conducted nuclear research and tested rocket engines on behalf of the departments of Energy and Defense, leaving extensive radiological and toxic contamination on the property.

The site's water permit regulates storm water and industrial water flowing from the property into creeks that eventually hit the Los Angeles River and Arroyo Simi.

Between July 2004 and April 2005, Boeing received 48 permit violations citing higher-than-allowed levels of mercury, dioxins and other contaminants.

In response, Boeing argued that the new pollution limits were too stringent. The company had asked for four years to study where the contamination is coming from and to develop a plan to prevent pollutants from moving off-site - without fear of penalties.

In addition, the company pushed for lenience after the Topanga Fire in September that burned 70 percent of the lab and created a serious erosion problem.

"Boeing has done everything within its power to meet these limits," Boeing attorney Sharon Rubalcava told officials, and she argued that the board's lack of flexibility "set us up for failure."

But neighbors argued that water officials have been too lenient with Boeing.

"This company has been violating over and over and they're asking for a free pass," said Marie Mason, a Simi Valley resident. "We're real humans with children and grandchildren living below this area."

Frustrated with slow enforcement, the Committee to Bridge the Gap in December sent Boeing a 60-day notice that the group intended to sue the company for violating the Clean Water Act.

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Source: AP