Water Board Finds Marines Negligent in Tustin Base Spill

A state water quality board on Friday found the U.S. Marine Corps Helicopter Base in Tustin negligent in discharging more than 10,000 gallons of contaminated water into the Upper Newport Bay watershed but rejected a staff recommendation that the board seek up to $25,000 a day in penalties.

James Anderson, executive officer for the California Water Quality Control Board-Santa Ana Region, told board members the April 7 spill of a petroleum-based detergent from helicopter wash racks could serve as a “clear-cut” case to test the military’s assertion that it is exempt from civil penalties under the federal Clean Water Act.

Board member Timothy L. Johnson, a Redlands city councilman and former Army captain, disagreed. He called the pursuit of fines “unproductive.”

Unanimous Vote

“In my humble opinion, we wouldn’t have won if we tried to take them to court,” Johnson said later. “Frankly, all we would be creating is a career for some of our attorneys--with all due respect.”

After the unanimous (6-0) vote at the board meeting in Fullerton, one staff member, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said, “I think the board totally missed the point.”

In a separate, 1983 case involving jet fuel contamination of soil and ground water at the Tustin Marine base, board members ordered that final plans for a cleanup be submitted by Oct. 1, dismissing requests from an Orange County environmental expert and the state Department of Fish and Game that it insist on seeing a plan within 30 days. The board left open the option of seeking legal action if the Marines do not meet the deadline.

“Private organizations would not get away with this,” state Fish and Game warden Darryl Avila argued. “They would be criminally prosecuted, and all agencies involved would be reimbursed for their time.”

Discovered on Easter

The detergent spill was first discovered early on Easter Sunday, when a passerby reported seeing a murky green liquid floating on top of the water in San Diego Creek, the main tributary to Upper Newport Bay, a state ecological preserve.

The green fluid was traced from Irvine upstream 4 1/2 miles to Peter Canyon channel and, ultimately, to a drainage ditch on the base that carried polluted water from an overflowing catch basin below the helicopter wash racks.

Base officials told investigators that one of two helicopter washing facilities was shut down in January so it could be connected to a sewage line. It was an overload from the remaining wash station--where about 80 helicopters a week were sponged with cleaner and hosed down--that caused the discharging of contaminants in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

The spill of 50 to 100 gallons of a petroleum-based detergent and degreasing compound used to clean the aircraft resulted in contamination of at least 40,000 gallons of water. About 10,000 gallons of polluted water escaped into the public waterways, but only 8,400 gallons were recovered.

Another 32,700 gallons of contaminated water were pumped out of the base’s unlined drainage ditch, overlying an Irvine ground water basin, but only after the water quality board’s staff issued an ultimatum, on April 9, that it be cleaned up by 3 p.m. the next day. The order included removal from the drainage channel of residual contaminants of soil and vegetation that still remain, a staff member said.

The board’s staff had recommended seeking civil penalties because base personnel had admitted, in a meeting on April 19, that the discharge had started several days before it was discovered. Staff members concluded that base personnel knew or should have known in time to stop the discharge. Penalties of up to $25,000 a day for each day of the discharge are possible under the federal Clean Water Act, whether the spill was intentional or merely the result of negligence.

Time Factors Noted

It was that prior knowledge, combined with delays in cleaning up--including refusal to permit U.S. Coast Guard crews on the base to clean up diked waste water--that led to the finding that the “U.S. Marine Corps has intentionally or negligently caused or permitted” illegal discharging of waste water.

Navy Capt. Brian Leap, who oversees facilities and construction at both the Tustin base and the nearby El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, told board members Friday that the Department of Justice has advised base officials they are exempt from civil fines under the law. An attorney for the state Water Resources Board in Sacramento said, however, that Congress specifically amended the act in 1977 to make federal entities liable like any other polluter.

But Leap told board members Friday that base officials were unaware of the spill until they were notified on April 7. He added that the Coast Guard cleanup crew agreed to do the downstream cleaning if the Marines assumed the job of cleaning up contamination on the base. A Coast Guard lieutenant appeared at the hearing to confirm Leap’s account.

Leap said Friday it was ironic that the helicopter station was shut down for renovation as part of a program to prevent environmental contamination.

Each helicopter at the base is required to be cleaned every two weeks, to prevent corrosion. After the spill, the washing program was suspended until the renovated station was completed May 1, Leap said.

Board members never asked Leap about discrepancies between his statements and the staff’s comments about how quickly Marine officials responded to the spill. Nor did they inquire why it took more than four months to connect the renovated wash station to a sewer line.

Previous Spills Suspected

Staff members have said there was a “good chance” that the April 7 discovery was not the first time water polluted with detergent was discharged from the base.

In an interview after the meeting, however, Leap said he felt confident that such a previous spill would have been discovered by someone. He said the polluted water had probably built up for about two days in the drainage ditch before it began migrating into the public waterways.

The board’s decision Friday does require the Marine Corps to submit a plan for removing contaminated soil and vegetation from the channel by May 17 and to complete the cleanup within a short time.

In the jet fuel contamination case, the board ordered the Marine Corps to return with a consultant’s report on the problem and an interim cleanup plan by mid-July. A complete work plan must be submitted by Oct. 1. The executive officer was empowered to seek legal action through the state attorney general’s office if the work plan is not followed.

The sources of contamination were two pits used to hold jet fuel that was set afire for training purposes. The pits were shut down immediately after county officials discovered seepage in the channel, in February, 1983, but environmental officials believe untold thousands of gallons of fuel had been flushed into the channel 100 feet away since 1970.

Bob Collacott, a county environmental quality specialist, testified Friday that the Marines have had ample time to study and clean up the problem. He noted that excavation of the contaminated soil was stopped at a depth of 10 feet when the Marines “ran out of money.”