Aw, Harvey, You're Not Even Trying Any More

The Regional Water Quality Control Board will be holding hearings May 22 & 23 in SLOTown and Agenda 14 will be consideration of Whatever Shall We Do About The Los Osos 45. Staff chief, Harvey Packard, doesn't even pretend to make sense in justifying his recommendation that the CDOs be kept in place.  He claims (with no evidence) that the sewer might not be built ( Harvey,  Seriously?) and that somebody out there in the community might refuse to hook up to the sewer when it's completed and so he thinks The 45 must be held hostage just in case that should happen because apparently he can't think of a way to deal with that possibility.  Oh, Dude!  Seriously? 

Harvey, your previous Mad Hatter Tea Party "Trial" Board was an embarrassment and this ridiculous recommendation is not helping your new board --  or yourself -- at all. 


Harvey's concluding opus followed by my letter to the Board:  

Current Status

There are currently 33 orders in effect. The orders require hookup when the community system becomes available and the interim actions noted above.

During public comment and staff updates at meetings over the years, the Central Coast Water Board has received requests from order holders and other interested parties that the Central Item No. 14 -3- May 22-23, 2014

Coast Water Board rescind the orders. It is within the Central Coast Water Board’s discretion to do so at a properly noticed public meeting.

Central Coast Water Board enforcement staff recommends leaving the individual enforcement orders in place for the following reasons:

1. The County has not yet completed the community system, and while we are confident that it will, this outcome is not guaranteed.

2. The main requirement of the orders, hooking up to the sewer when it becomes available, cannot yet be complied with. This requirement should stay in place until the system is available.

3. Even when the system is available, there may be dischargers in the prohibition zone who are reluctant or refuse to hook up. Leaving these orders in place maintains a disincentive for order recipients to continue violating the prohibition after construction of the sewer system.

Staff has received numerous comments on this subject. Most encourage the Central Coast Water Board to rescind the orders. Reasons include the County’s progress toward completing the community system, the cost of more frequent septic-tank pumping, the unfairness of only holding a small number of dischargers responsible, and the continued stigma of the orders. The comments are provided with this report.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Example Cease and Desist Order

2. Example Cleanup and Abatement Order

3. Comments

My Reply   May 9, 2014

Dear Mr. Packard and RWQCB Board Members: 

Regarding the upcoming CDO hearings for The Los Osos 45, your staff recommendation states you oppose rescinding the CDOs because you believe (with no evidence proffered) that a few of these people may be "reluctant or refuse to hook up" when the sewer is completed.  So you are recommending that the RWQCB declare everyone of the 45 guilty before the fact and so continue to hold every one of them hostage on the basis of that unsupported belief? 

Mr. Packard,  I have an alternate suggestion for your Board.  As then-chairman Young made clear from the dais during the CDO's Mad Hatter Tea Party "trial," since the CDO's were only being used as a coercive part of the Board's illegal electioneering attempt, and since that assessment vote is long over, rescinding the CDOs will help bring to a  close that absolutely embarrassing chapter in your Board's history, and help repair the RWQCB's credibility as it moves forward under new leadership. 

And, once the sewer plant is built and IF you find out there actually are a few people who refuse to hook up, there's a simple solution:  Put a CDO on the homeowners for an action that can be supported with actual evidence, not some kind of before-the-fact "belief." 

Please include a copy of this email to the Board as part of the public comment on this matter.

Thank you.

And Now, A Comment From One In The Know

This email came in response to my previous posting of Ron Crawford’s latest “letter to the RWQCB.” It is posted with permission, but sans name, to avoid possible blowback, but I can vouch for its authorship and vouch that it’s someone very involved with the Hideous Sewer Wars. And the author is correct: The WMH breach of contract lawsuit really should have been persued – really. It is an absolute tragedy for the residents of Los Osos that what really happened will be buried and the cost for that “breach” will eaten by the residents. And had Roger Briggs and the RWQCB and SWB, with lots of help from Pandora & The Etcs, “Fine Them Out Of Existence!,” not lost their marbles, all of this misery for the Los Osos 45 and all the rest could have been avoided utterly and we could have been well on our way with the October Compromise & etc, to having the exact same sewer system that we’ll be getting now – without the wasted years  and wasted millions of dollars. Thus, Ron Crawford correct in understanding how government agencies can act without accurate information while the citizens pay the price for their screw ups.

“The recent posts forget one thing and it is a big thing. The project was not stopped by the Post Recall Board. The State did this by refusing to engage the new Board and withholding funds. All of this was in the claim against MWH and the State. It is very disturbing that the new Board dropped those claims as MWH dodged a big one. I do understand the cost to continue that fight would have been a huge continual drain on the CSD. This is exactly one of the huge faults of the structure of the appeals processes of both the regional and state boards. Appeals should go directly to the courts.

That said the one glaring issue that the TW [Tri-W] supporters forget is that the current project is EXACTLY what we agreed to under Blakeslee in October 2005. This is what is so disturbing. Also the experts that finally looked at TW, including the most recent county consultants, absolutely confirm that the post recall board was spot on with that October 2005 compromise. this is the glaring indictment of both the TW folks fraud and the malfeasance done by both MWH and the State. The county's current project exonerates the post recall board, ENTIRELY. Those that don't get that are deniers. They are incapable of admitting that the post recall board got it right all those years ago and that the project would have been completed now, yes now, had the Briggs (the [redacted]), the state and MWH lived up to their duties. As for Young he is simply an arrogant [redacted].

Yup, That's How It's Done Here In Chinatown

Poor Ms. Sherrod isn't the only person to be the victim of Officials Acting Badly Without Complete Facts.  See Ron Crawford's post, "How the Water Quality Control Board "Sherroded" 45 Los Osos Property Owners," at http://www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com/.

Yup, that's how it's done.  Bankrupt and/or bury the victims, then walk away.