County in mediation over multimillion dollar lawsuit regarding landfill

LAKE COUNTY – The county has entered mediation with a water advocacy group over a multimillion dollar lawsuit that finds fault with the south county landfill.


The suit, filed by the California Sport Fishing Alliance v. County of Lake in the US District Court's Northern District of California, already has been the focus of a closed session discussion by the Board of Supervisors.


“The court is sending us to mediation,” said County Counsel Anita Grant.


The suit names specifically Lake County, the Lake County Public Services Department and its director, Kim Clymire, and Chuck Maves, the landfill's supervisor.


The civil suit is brought under the enforcement provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.


It alleges that the county's 80-acre Eastlake Sanitary Landfill on Davis Street in Clearlake occupies a former canyon in the headwaters of Molesworth Creek, which carries surface water in the winter and early spring to Clear Lake.


The landfill's runoff, according to the suit, also goes into an unnamed creek that discharges into Cache Creek and, therefore, the Sacramento River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.


The suit states, “The general consensus among regulatory agencies and water quality specialists is that storm water pollution amounts to more than half the total pollution entering the marine environment each year.”


The Sport Fishing Alliance's suit is seeking $27,500 per day from Oct. 1, 1992, up through March 14, 2004, for the landfill's alleged lack of compliance, for a total of more than $116 million in damage. If the alliance's demands are awarded, the county would be facing more than $64 million in civil penalties at $32,500 a day since March 15, 2004, for a total of more than $180 million.


But Bill Jennings, the Sport Fishing Alliance's executive director, said that's a “theoretical” amount.


“That's how seriously the law regards violations of the Clean Water Act,” he said. “I've not yet seen anyone tagged with the full amount.”


He added, “Lake County staff has been proactive and we've been working together.”


The group, which has become well known for its water quality work around the state, particularly in the bay delta on behalf of the delta smelt, is expanding its efforts statewide, said Jennings.


Last year, the group got a tip that it should look at Lake County's landfill operations. “We found massive violations of the industrial stormwater permit,” said Jennings, noting that the landfill is located in a streambed, the worst possible place for it.


The alliance sent a letter dated Feb. 7 to Clymire and Maves in which it alleged that the landfill was discharging pollutants into Molesworth Creek, Cache Creek and Clear Lake, as well as the bay delta.


Jennings also sent letters to state and federal agencies, which didn't proceed, and which Jennings said rarely do because of the lack of will or not enough resources.


“The regional (water) board doesn't even have the staff to get all the annual reports into files. We find them in boxes,” said Jennings.


Wendy Wyels, spokesperson for the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, said the only outstanding issue that the state has with the Eastlake Landfill relates to volatile organic chemicals – or VOCs – which she said remains unresolved.


Wyels said the water board and the county have exchanged several letters back and forth about establishing a gas extraction system at the landfill to keep the VOCs out of the groundwater.


However, that issue isn't the source of any enforcement action, and the state hasn't taken any enforcement actions against the landfill recently, Wyels said.


With the agencies not taking action, Jennings said the alliance was free to proceed with its civil suit. He said 90 percent of the Clean Water Act's enforcement is carried out thorough citizen lawsuits.


“We're filling a niche that has been vacated by the failure to ensure that the regional water boards have sufficient staff to enforce these permits,” said Jennings, who noted he tries to keep a docket of 15 to 25 Clean Water Act enforcement cases going at any one time.


The water board said the alliance currently has nine lawsuits or complaints filed against other entities on water issues.


Of the Lake County suit, Jennings said, “I have every expectation that the issue will be resolved amicably,” and without the county paying out millions. He added that the county's financial constraints are being taken into account.


Grant said she is unable to comment at this point on the particulars of those closed-door discussions over the suit.


She did say, however, that, if the informal efforts to resolve the case don't work, further court hearings are scheduled in October.


Jennings said causes and corrective actions have been identified, and “substantive” progress has been made in the issue, which should prevent the suit from getting into the “really expensive discovery” part of the process.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews .

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