CSPA Requests 'Designated Party' Status in McClellan Disposal Fiasco

CSPA Requests 'Designated Party' Status in McClellan Disposal Fiasco

by Dan Bacher

In strongly worded letter to the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance on September 10 requested status as a "designated party" in the the McClellan Air Force Base waste disposal fiasco. CSPA's status as "designated party" would allow for direct input into the renewal permit process to make sure that toxic waste is no longer discharged into Central Valley waterways from the decommissioned base.

Magpie Creek flows through McClellan and for decades has carried the effluents of the Base's domestic and industrial waste treatment plants into the Sacramento River through Steellhead Creek above the mouth of the American River. McClellan is located approximately seven miles northeast of Sacramento, in Sacramento County, California, and covers 2,952 acres. Operations at the base have 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.

"When the base was decommissioned in the late 90's, it was found that the operations at the facility had created a toxic wasteland," according to Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. "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.

In his letter to Mr. Ken Landau, Assistant Executive Officer of the Regional Water Quality Control Board's Central Valley Region from Bill Jennings, executive director of CSPA, documents 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 release of more toxic discharges into Central Valley and California Delta waterways would only futher 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.