City-EPA Talks Fail to Produce Sewage-Treatment Accord

A day of intensive negotiations between Mayor Maureen O’Connor and the EPA failed to produce agreement on the terms of a massive city sewage-treatment project Thursday, leaving both sides doubtful that a costly battle in federal court can be avoided.

The federal agency did agree to extend today’s negotiating deadline until Tuesday, but it is preparing to take legal action to force the city to comply with the sewage-treatment terms of the federal Clean Water Act, an Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman said.

“We’re still negotiating with the city,” said Virginia Donohue, chief of public affairs for the EPA’s Western region. “We are considering filing a suit next week.”

If victorious in court, the EPA could fine the city $10,000 a day for a period that could stretch back for years, she said.

Mayoral spokesman Paul Downey said that, after three telephone conversations with an EPA official in San Francisco on Thursday, O’Connor was not optimistic about reaching a negotiated compromise.

The city has already missed a July 1 deadline imposed by the federal law to upgrade its sewage treatment, which now filters 75% of suspended solids from sewage, to a system that removes 85% to 90%. City engineers have estimated that installing such a “secondary treatment system” will cost $1.5 billion, making it the most expensive public works project in city history.

City officials, EPA officials and U.S. Department of Justice officials have been negotiating a schedule for the installation of the secondary system, but talks have reached an impasse over when the city would agree to start the system.

A source close to the negotiations, who asked not to be identified, said the EPA is insisting that the city agree to a 1997 start-up. O’Connor, who has no commitments for federal or state financing to help with the project, is balking at agreeing to that deadline, the source said.

The city is seeking a start-up sometime after 2000, or a clause allowing it to extend the 1997 date if financing is not available or if it is impractical for the city to complete the huge project by then, the source said. The EPA has rejected that offer.

O’Connor is concerned about getting into an agreement without knowing whether the city is getting federal or state funding, Downey said.

Also undecided is how much the EPA will fine the city for past sewage spills, primarily into Mission Bay, but that has become a secondary issue, the source said.

O’Connor and the city’s eight council members met in closed session three times Thursday to discuss the evolving negotiations, but council members, Assistant City Manager Jack McGrory and Assistant City Atty. Curtis Fitzpatrick declined to discuss them.