Not Little, But Too Late

Calhoun's Can(n)s for Sept 27, 2014

There's never a wrong time to do the right thing.

                                                       Anon

Former RWQCB Chairman, Jeffery Young, wasn't man enough to show up.  He left it to Vice Chair,  Dr. Monica Hunter,  to do the right thing:  Vote (which was unanimous) to rescind 45 CDO's and APOLOGIZE to The Los Osos 45 and to the community for the cruel and pointlessly ridiculous "Mad Hatter Tea Party and Torequemada's Auto de Fe Trial," inflicted on them by the previous Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Dr. Hunter had recused herself when the mad "trial" was underway because she lives in Los Osos and so had a conflict of interest on that proceeding.  Which was a shame because she alone apparently knew what the rest of that Board refused to know:  They had  swallowed a false Kool-Aid narrative about the community, carefully fed to them by the former Chief of Staff, a furious, incompetent and equally uninformed Roger Briggs, and his clockwork second-in-command, Harvey Packard.  This false narrative was that Los Osos was some kind of Dogpatch filled with urine-swilling "Anti-Sewer Obstructionist" scofflaws.

Naturally, urine-swilling scofflaws, whose only sin was voting to move a sewer plant out of town, needed punishment in order to bring them to heel.  And what better way to do that than singling out 45 hapless residents, very publicly slap a Cease and Desist Order on their homes, put them through a ridiculous "trial," threaten their homes, and disrupt their lives, in a little piece of illegal electioneering which would, as then-Chairman Young brazenly put it from the dais, get the community to "vote the right way." 

The Mad Hatter Trials were reported on here and the whole sewer debacle thoroughly documented on Ron Crawford's blog at www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com so there's no need to rehash the insanity.  Except to note how these unfair CDOs on only 45 people serves as a window into how looney the Regional Board's policies and procedures had become.

Unlike everyone else in the PZ, The Los Osos 45 were required to pay big bucks to inspect and pump their tanks every three years (despite expert testimony that unnecessary pumping made wastewater discharges worse, not better, and despite the fact that nobody else in town had a similar burden.), send that report to the Board and notify the Board if the property was sold. So, clearly the Board was trying to make some sort of vague "scientific" connection between "water quality" and pumping and inspecting a septic tank on a piece of property that would justify that CDO.

But here's the kicker. The CDO's were put on an individual, not on the property.  If a CDO recipient sells their house, the CDO goes away.  Poof!  A new family moves in.  Same house, same tank, same leach field, same discharge, but no CDO, no expensive pumping, no reporting, nothing.

This, of course, is pointless incompetent bureaucracy run amok.  And has been the operating methods of the Regional Board from day one.  Under Chairman Young's leadership, the Board chose to ignore science, ignore practical reason, ignore common sense and instead allowed frustration, anger, misinformation and their own incompetence and ignorance to lead them into a farce  -- "The Mad Hatter Tea Party Trial" -- a piece of lunacy that would have been genuinely funny had not the consequences to 45 real people and the community been so wasteful and so harmful.

And now, here it was, the final chapter in this epic piece of embarrassment and ex-chairman Young didn't have the guts to even show up.  But Dr. Hunter did and she alone had the courage and decency to acknowledge and apologize to those 45 and to the community as a whole.  The apology was too late, but it was no small thing.

Except to our newspaper of record.  Two days after the meeting the Tribune carried not one word about the vote, or about the apology.  Nothing. Not a surprise, seeing as how they, like the Board, had already swallowed that same false narrative about Los Osos and became water-carriers for the Board.  And  now, when the community finally received an apology --an acknowledgement by the Vice Chair that The 45 and the community had been  wronged by the Water Board -- the community won't read about it in the Tribune.

While deliberately blinding yourself, silencing your critics and burying your mistakes is par for the course for bureaucrats and Boards, for a newspaper, it's inexcusable.

So, congratulations to The Los Osos 45.  While the community (and the Tribune) have forgotten you, Dr. Hunter did not.  While the apology was too late in coming, it did finally arrive and that in itself is no small thing.  

Harvey and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Well, yesterday's Regional Water Control Board mini-hearing didn't go too well for staff CAO, Harvey Packard.  Agenda #14 was supposedly about asking the Board to remove the useless, stupid, horrible, pointless, no good CDOs from The Los Osos 45.  And, as the truth of the matter slowly spilled out, it turns out that it was several new Board members who had asked for an update and status review on the matter.  But instead of making that clear in an official, formal, complete notification to all the 45, Harvey was forced to fess up that he didn't do that.  Instead, he just sorta blew the whole thing off and instead casually asked CDO-holder, Bill Moylan, if he (Bill) could contact some of his fellow 45ers and see if they'd like to send in comments. 

It soon became clear that for Harvey, this Board request was just like, Oh, Whatever. And his lackadaisical approach left the Moylans with the clear idea that the whole thing was Harvey's idea.  Even his final staff report made no mention as to the source of this agenda item.  So it was a shock when he came back with his lame, ludicrous reasons for disapproving what clearly appeared to be his own request in order to keep the CDO's in place.

Naturally, once Harvey's muddling of this issue unwound at the hearing, I do not think the Board was amused. But, wait, it got worse.  Supervisor Bruce Gibson showed up to again request that the CDOs be removed and noted that if the Board was worried about compliance, the County has an ordinance in place that mandates --  with both civil and potentially criminal penalties  -- that homeowners hook up when the sewer goes on line.

Then Harvey was asked by a new Board member, whether he was familiar with the ordinance.  No, apparently Harvey had to admit he was unaware of its existence.  Then, to make matters worse, the new Board asked Harvey what other regulatory/legal/procedural methods were available to him (and/or the Board) to ensure compliance.  And CAO Harvey hemmed and hawed and had to admit he wasn't sure, possibly something could be done by the Attorney General, maybe, or he didn't know.  

All of which made clear what/who the problem with the RWQCB has always been:  A Board and staff  too often unprepared, uncaring, sloppy, incompetent, indifferent, heedless of consequences, or in the  words of  former staff member, Matt Thompson, uttered at Roger Brigg' insane Mad Hatter Tea Party Trial and Torquemada's Auto de Fe Extravaganza, that I guess we didn't think things through . . . .

(And, to be fair, a staff  often undertrained, overworked, understaffed,  and a Board burdened with enough technical reading material to digest and rule on that would choke an elephant. And, I need add,  "rule on" complex issues too often outside their area of expertise. Since these same people have the power and ability to ruin lives and injure communities, the disconnect between competence and overburden is a chronic, systemic problem and what can make regulators, without a good system of checks and balances, so dangerous.)      

Well the upshot of all this was that  Dr. Monica Hunter (who is now free to participate fully since the reason for her recusal as a Los Osos resident has been removed), sternly schooled Harvey for how he was to proceed when this issue again comes before the Board in September:  He is to formally, officially notify ALL the CDO recipients with full information notifying them of the hearing. None of this slipshod, whatever.  

So, no, not a good day for Harvey.  BUT, I think it may well have been a very good day for The Los Osos 45.  The new Board members were clearly uneasy about those CDOs, saw no point in them, expressed discomfort about the sheer unfairness of them.  (Former Chairman Young, who deserved to have a paper bag put on his head while this item was being discussed, wisely kept his mouth shut. He's smart enough to know you can't defend the indefensible, and the looney Mad Hatter Trial over which he presided had jumped the shark so far there was no hope of ever recovering.)

And so the consensus of the Board was to try to set up two-step hearings on the same September day.  The first item would be an informational hearing as to exactly what enforcement mechanisms are available to the Board.  (The Board is fearful that if they free the 45 that somehow they'll be helpless to do anything to anybody in the PZ ever again.  It's an example of a Board that still hasn't thought things through.) Then the second agenda item will be an action item: Discussion, public testimony, then a vote on whether or not to stop this nonsense and free The Los Osos 45.

Meantime, the Board will write a MOU to the 45 excusing their August requirement of tank pumping, a burden that pointlessly blows $600+ out of their budgets,  a  burden only The 45, out of the whole community, have to bear.

So, good news?  For the community, maybe.  As Supervisor Gibson noted, in making the case for stopping this insanity, the inherent unfairness  of the continued Board refusal to remove those CDOs is still an impediment to finally bringing the community together.

Indeed.  And that's because the CDOs remain a painful symbolic reminder of the basic injustice meted out to those 45 citizens who were stupidly, unfairly, pointlessly, sadistically hung out to dry. And left there to swing in the wind for years while everyone else in the community went on their merry way.

 

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.

Free The Los Osos 45

I received the following email & thread between The Moylans (One of The Los Osos 45) and RWQCB's Harvey Packard.  The email is self-explanatory.  Though it may seem like ancient history, there are 45 of your fellow Los Ososians who are still under the gun from Roger Briggs' "Mad Pumping Scheme" and the appalling and pointless "Mad Hatter Tea Party and Torquemada's Auto de Fe" show "Trial" that followed. The world moved on but these 45 got stuck with Mr. Briggs', Mr. Packard's and Mr. Young's massive Folly.

Is it possible that Mr. Packard is finally having second thoughts about his role in this excruciating, hideously embarrassing fiasco? Especially since Mr. Young is no longer Chairman and, mirable dictu, there's some new, competent, better-informed, knowledgeable,Board members who, hopefully, will bring to this Board a desperately needed new perspective. And this Board can finally make this right? Let's hope so.  Mr. Moylan has listed Mr. Packard's email if you wish to give him input on this matter. I have lots of input I could give Mr. Packard, but for now, I'll allow Ms. Moylan's cogent comments (to be posted shortly) speak to the point. But, for now, there's the question:  Should The Los Osos 45 finally be set free?    

Dear Friends,

Below is an email string between Bill Moylan and Harvey Packard of the Water Board Enforcement Division that you may find worth reading (up from the bottom). You will see that Mr. Packard mentions asking members of the community to comment on the CDO’s currently being enforced on 45 families in Los Osos. He is considering asking to have them removed. He expected Bill to get the word out. Bill told him that we don’t know enough people, and that he needs to communicate with the community, himself, using the Water Board’s considerable resources. But he has not done that yet, and so we are forwarding the message string below to help at least a few community members to communicate thoughts on retaining or removing the “Los Osos 45” CDO’s. 

Mr. Packard is looking for community input on a topic that means a lot to those of us with CDO’s in our lives for the past eight years.

Bill and I hope you’ll take some time to send Harvey Packard a message to say what you think the CDO’s are accomplishing, and whether or not they should remain in force or be removed from the 45 properties and all the people they have affected since 2006. His email address is hpackard@waterboards.ca.gov. Your neighbors with CDO’s appreciate your taking the time to speak up briefly to express your opinion on whether the “Los Osos 45” CDO's should be removed.

Please feel free to pass this message along. Anyone who needs to be reminded of the CDO prosecutions can go to www.waterboards.ca.gov and search los osos CDO’s, los osos enforcement actions 2006, or other colorful and imaginative possibilities. There you will find transcripts of the April 28, 2006/December 15, 2006/January 22, 2007 enforcement hearings, among other intriguing documents.

Thank you for taking a look below and for taking the time to communicate with Mr. Packard, if you are so inclined.

Best,

Bev 

From: Subject: Re: Los Osos CDO's

Date: February 24, 2014 7:38:37 PM PST

To: "Packard, Harvey@Waterboards" <Harvey.Packard@waterboards.ca.gov>

Dear Mr. Packard,

Thank you for your prompt reply to my message and for your invitation to provide input for your May proposal to the Water Board.

To let interested parties know about your proposal, however, requires information I do not have. But your agency does have it.. 

As the compliance officer for the CCRWQCB, you are the appropriate party to encourage input for your May 2014 CDO proposal by contacting all individual enforcement recipients and by making a timely public announcement.

  Sincerely,

  William Moylan

On Feb 24, 2014, at 9:26 AM, Packard, Harvey@Waterboards wrote:

Mr. Moylan,

I agree that it is my job to make a recommendation to the Water Board about the CDOs, and I plan on doing so in a written report to the board for the May 2014 meeting.  The board will not take any action at the meeting, but could provide direction to staff.

If you or anyone else interested in the situation would like to provide input toward my recommendation, please provide that information to me by March 31.

Thanks,

Harvey C. Packard, PE

Section Manager and Enforcement Coordinator

Central Coast Water Board

895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101

San Luis Obispo, CA  93401

(805) 542-4639

(805) 543-0397 fax

From: william]
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 11:08 PM
To: Packard, Harvey@Waterboards
Subject: Fwd: Los Osos CDO's

 Dear Mr. Packard,

I sent you an e-mail on February 10, 2014 (12 days ago) saying that my wife and I believed that it was your responsibility to submit a proposal to the Water Board to remove the Cease and Desist Orders that were issued to 45 households in Los Osos in 2006 and early 2007.  I still have not received a response from you. I believe that you have had ample time to respond to my e-mail.  I request that you send me a response regarding my first e-mail within the next five days. Below is a copy of that first e-mail.

Sincerely,

William Moylan

Begin forwarded message:

From: william < Subject: Los Osos CDO's

Date: February 10, 2014 8:42:54 PM PST

To: hpackard@waterboards.ca.gov

Dear Mr. Packard,

 Recently you spoke to me at the CCRWQCB office suggesting that my wife and I join forces with other CDO families to ask the Water Board “to remove” the Cease and Desist Orders they imposed on us in 2006 and 2007.

 It is my understanding that the original individual enforcement proposal came from CCRWQCB staff. You were on staff at the time of those hearings that resulted in a 100% successful prosecution rate.

 After carefully considering your suggestion, I concluded that the party who proposed individual enforcement is the appropriate party to request its removal.  As CCRWQCB Enforcement Coordinator and Advisor to the Board you are in the proper position to ask the Board to remove the individual Cease and Desist Orders that resulted from the prosecution of the “Los Osos 45.”

 I request that you submit that proposal as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

 William Moylan

Is That A Bonus In Your Pocket

. . . or are you just glad to see me?

O.K. admit it.  This story's just plain goofy, one of those Chinese Water Torture stories that dribble out bit by bit.  First, Jamie Irons, the new Morro Bay City Council has a meeting then doesn't have a meeting, then wants to fire their top two CEOs, then it doesn't fire anybody and gives no reason why they're being fired or not fired.  Then hundreds of outraged citizens show up with firebrands, making ugly crowd noises and demanding to know what's going on, so the City Council says, Sorry, it's a personnel matter, we can't tell you even though we're not saying anybody's done anything to be fired for, maybe, maybe not, who knows?  Then the Mayor says, "Oh, nevermind.  Instead of firing, we'll go hire an outside lawyer to find out what we just did or didn't do and what we should do now, not that we're saying we're going to do anything in the first place, or something, maybe.

So, the Tribune readers mull over that enlightening report and a few days later, up pops a follow up story claiming that "several legal experts" (i.e. Tom Newton, executive director of the California Newspaper Publishers Association) have opined that the previous Morro Bay Mayor Yates and his City Council violated the Brown Act when they failed to give proper public notice of their intention to increase their two CEO's severance pay six weeks before before leaving office.  And then forgot to report out that compensation. 

Then, on the same front page, another follow up story:  The Morro Bay City Council voted to cough up $12,500 for an outside attorney to sort through this mess to find out a couple of things:  Since the "secret" severance packages were (apparently) done in violation of the Brown act, are they invalid?  And, if they are, can the new Mayor Irons go ahead and fire the two CEO's using their old at-will contracts?  Thereby saving the city some $300,000-plus in excess compensation?

Well, stay tuned.  In the meantime, some citizens have started a recall petition.  Morro Bay Politics.  A Recall.  Oh, dear. 

Oh, and you just knew THAT was gonna happen . . .

The Tribune reports that the County code enforcement folks were heading out to drought-parched Paso Robles to investigate dozens of illegal water use violation complaints. When the BOS voted on Aug 27 to forbid any new vines, that meant unless the vintner/farmer/rancher actually had his vines/trees in the ground, they were out of luck. Then they weasled  on  "vested rights," which allowed some wiggle room for growers who had paid-for vines in transit, for example. 

And when there's wiggle room there's sure to be growers willing to wiggle right over the line, then head to court.  And so it begins:  Owens Valley, redux.  Will we hear shotguns in the night?  Cut water lines? Sabotage?  Hey, they don't call it a Water War for nothing.  And when livelihoods and homes are at stake . . .  Let's hope the formation of a water district and some sort of water rationing kicks in soon.  Meantime, pray for rain.

Water, Water Everywhere!  Let's Dump It Into the Bay

Over at Cal Coast News ( http://calcoastnews.com/2013/09/los-osos-sewer-contractor-dumping-millions-gallons-water-morro-bay/  ), Josh Friedman picks up the story of the Los Osos sewer contractors being awash in polluted ground-water bubbling up whilst they're laying pipe for the new sewer.  Oh, what to do with the stuff?  Well, their contract calls for them to dispose of it on land, if possible, and they're certainly doing that daily, with water trucks trolling the streets spraying everywhere.  But there's just too much of the stuff and the county plans apparently didn't include running a pipe, for example, up to the Broderson disposal site so the water could percolate back into the ground and do that before digging began in earnest.

Oh, what to do?  Well, there's Morro Bay right there, and Morro Bay's made up of water, and polluted groundwater is, well, it's water, so what's the problem?  Let's just dump it in the Bay!  Who's to object?

The Regional Water Quality Control Board, you might reply?  Oh, no.  That Board wasted no time and expended enormous amounts of money and time prosecuting 45 happless homeowners (The Los Osos 45) for polluting the groundwater with their septic tanks,but when it comes to dumping gazillions of gallons of polluted groundwater into the Bay?  Meh.  Not a problem.

The contractor was supposed to exhaust all alternative ground-dispersal options before bay discharge, but there's no evidence that that has been done.  And no evidence that the Water Board plans to enforce that requirement.  Besides sending the contract a mild little letter of suggestions.  No Mad Hatter trials for them!  After all, it's only an issue of water quality, nothing the Regional Water Quality Control Board need concern itself with. Ditto for the BOS.  More "Meh."

Well, with all things RWQCB,  BOS and Sewer, it's all a matter of geese and ganders, isn't it?

Healed At Last?

Well, over at www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com, Ron Crawford has a few things to say about the "ReCreate Los Osos" organization that was formed to "heal Los Osos" and is now dead before it could get born, alas.  But Ron's too hard on Marshall Ochylski and Lou Tornatzy, the folks behind the "healing."  If Ron wishes punishment upon them, rest assured, they have suffered plenty since he writes that they're now dissolving that organization as a state non-profit.

As someone who spent about a year wandering in the virtual halls of Sacramento attempting to dissolve an uneeded Ca. nonprofit that was part of the off-leash dog park,  I can tell you those two are in for a nightmare.  I have never seen a more confusing process, full of wrong directions, unintelligible paperwork, forms returned with absolutely no reason given for returning them, futile phone calls, hair pulling frustration until I finally got ahold of a nice young man who in four sentences laid out what still needed to be done.  When I asked him why those instructions weren't included with the original dissolution packet, he was silent.

It was Byzantine bureaucracy at its worst and I would not wish it on my worst enemy.  So, good luck to those two.  In the meantime, it's all sunshine and happiness in Los Osos, so apparently this nonprofit, "ReCreate Los Osos" worked.  Mirable Dictu.

Speaking of The Odd Couple

If Healing Los Osos didn't quite work for you and you're still in need of a good laugh, head up to The Pewter Playhouse in Cambria.  They're putting on a distaff version of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," with Janice Peters and Sharyn Young playing the mismatched leads.  The play is running every Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm through Sept 1 with Sunday Matinees on August 18, 25 and Sept 1 at 3 pm.  Cost is $15 on Fridays, or $20 on Sunday's, with Seniors and Students for $18. Reservations can be had at (805) 927-3877 or www.pewterploughplayhouse.org

The theatre, which has been there forever, has been recently gussied up, with new cunningly comfortable seats (modified directors chairs, each named by chair donors after a famous actor/actress.)  While the theatre is small, it's intimacy supports all that is best about the words "little theatre." 

Next up on their playlist is "The Weir, A Ghost Story" by Conon McPherson (Sept 20 - Oct 27, a perfect ghostly play coincide with Cambria's Scarecrow Festival during the month of Oct.  Then they'll be doing "A Tuna Christmas," running Nov 22 - December 29.  If you haven't seen this satiric comedy, put that on your Christmas list to go-see. 

And Now The Department of We're Not Surprised

A nice fat envelope from Bruce Gibson for Supervisor landed on my doorstep and when I opened it up I learned that our supervisor, who had, if memory served, petulantly declared he wouldn't be running for another term, said while he was embroiled in getting his girlfriend back into his office as his legislative assistant  (dare I presume that was part of the ploy to sway public opinion, as in, "Well, give him what he wants since this will be his last term and we'll just have to hold our noses for a while until he's gone?")  

Well, if you're one of those holding your nose, you'd better start breathing because the first sentence of the letter was this, "My Dear Friend, I'm writing to let you know that I am seeing another term on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in 2014 -- and I'm going to need your help now more than ever." 

And reading further it turns out that he needs your help because the well-funded Looney-Tune Tea Party/COLAB/Paranoid anti-Agenda 21 UN conspiracy promoters and climate-change deniers are at the gates and the County faces wrack and ruin unless he's elected. And, yes, he knows ". . . that my actions have hurt my family, my friends and my community.  I'm deeply sorry for that, and again, I apologize," but clearly he feels that without him the County will be overrun by special interests and land-grabbing despoiling Huns pouring in from the North County, let by the Terrifying Khan, Debbie Arnold, and her henchman, north and south. (More grapevines! More grapevines! Drain the aquifer!) 

Well, no mistake, the next few months and years are gonna get interesting, especially for the North County.  In typical SLO County fashion, they've known about the dropping water table for 20 plus years and did nothing.  (Not to mention the Regional Water Quality Control Board that should have been concerned about, uh, water quality, especially when the quality of the water starting turning into dust?)  So now the piper has arrived demanding to be paid.  And it ain't gonna be pretty.  I have two words for everyone involved in what's gonna go down now:  Los Osos.  

In the meantime, for all the peasants in the path of the Khans, I can only say, relax, don't worry.  Who needs water when you have PomWonderful and wine to drink and Fiji water to bathe in?  Quel luxury!  

 

 

Calling Dr. Borenstein . . .

Doctor B?  Please go to www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com   Wait, where'd she go?  Oh, gosh, there she is, hiding under her desk with Supervisors Patterson and Gibson.  Woa, getting crowded under there. Shhh, if you make a sound, they'll simply disappear.  But if we wait very quietly, maybe they'll come out and answer Ron's simple -- very simple -- question.

Aw, Shredder, You Don't Love Los Osos Any More, Do You

The following is a "Viewpoint" response by Julie Tacker to  New Times' The Shredder/s Oct 13 swipe at "Sewer Nuts."  The Shredder's remarks are in italics) My response follows. 


Response to Shredder October 13, 2011

Dear Shredder,

I think I’m having a problem communicating. Every week I go to the Board of Supervisors and say the exact same thing and nobody seems to listen. Also, my application to lynch Paavo Ogren and Maria Kelly was rejected, AGAIN. What am I doing wrong?


—Los Osos Sewer Nut

Dear Nut,

It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The same can be said for the sewer decision makers (1980-98, County of SLO, 1999-2005 LOCSD, 2006-today County of SLO) study after study, design after design, to still end up with an energy hungry gravity sewer IS insane.

I consider what I am about to say the most important piece of advice I have ever given: SHUT UP.


No Shredder, you SHUT UP! If you can’t be part of the solution, get out of the way.

For years I’ve listened to you rant about your sewer.

You may have heard the dedicated concerned citizens of Los Osos week after week, but you obviously weren’t listening. If you had been you would know why they go and perhaps have joined them in their plight.

You hate it. You really hate it.

We don’t hate the sewer, we hate the process (tainted by corporate greed, small town politics and now a love affair that revealed what we already knew, Maria’s vote to settle with mondo-engineering firm MWH let lover-boy Paavo off the hook (for illegally ordering the backdating of a contract).

We hate having our voices quashed by those who claim to be doing what’s “good” or “right” for Los Osos. Those who do not live with the complexities of the issues in Los Osos, those who do not care what the dissention has done to a community that is otherwise quite lovely.

You want more funding. You’re not happy about the funding you got.

“Funding?” What funding? Los Osos could have got a better loan from a loan shark than it’s getting from the USDA. The County’s “skilled negotiators” portrayed Los Osos as ‘deadbeats who defaulted on a $6 Million loan in 2005’. This is completely false. The loan in question was rescinded by the State when their own engineer agreed with the District’s engineer and newly elected Board that moving the sewer from downtown would reduce the project cost by $25 million. That engineer was quickly removed from the project and buried in a cubical somewhere in Sacramento.

I’m not sure what you want, and I don’t think you are either.

Los Osos has always wanted a fair process and a chance to build an environmentally friendly project. For example, this project doesn’t even provide for solar panels on the rooftop of the plant to offset costs of operation. When this was brought to the attention of the permitting authorities, the County’s response was to orient the building east/west to absorb the southern sun, but not add the panels. The rate payers would pay for the panels up front, but would also benefit from the long term cost offset…maybe you Shredder, can get the answer “why not?”

You’ve had years to formulate a cohesive statement, argument, manifesto, anything.

At one time (1998) 87% of voters were in agreement of one thing; to take the project away from the County. They were sold on “faster, better, cheaper” and are still in search of it.

Instead, all anyone’s heard for years is incoherent rambling against anyone and everyone even remotely connected to Los Osos.


Again Shredder, you haven’t been listening to those weekly speakers. Each brings something different. They come from all walks of life, political parties, religious preferences, and myriad life experiences. Some speak sewer, others water, some to cost, the complex details, or as of late -- the recently revealed love affair involving key players, Maria and Paavo.

And if they’re not on your side—whatever the hell side that happens to be—they’re against you.

Not necessarily. The Los Osos issues are very complex (if you were listening you would know that). Those citizens who march like lemmings to the podium to agree with the County ARE against those who bring forth the issues, concerns, and flaws. They like living like mushrooms; in the dark being fed compost. Clearly they haven’t taken the time to go through the studies, add the figures themselves, or look at the logistics of the permits (e.g. Harming/killing no more than 15 snails over the course of the 45 mile long project, emptying 5,000 septic tanks in under a year, tip-toeing through Native American ruins/burial grounds, daily dewatering of a million gallons of polluted groundwater from trenches, digging in sugar sand, the complex list goes on and on).

There are two ways to go about this. One way is to sit down privately and try to reach a resolution.

Which issue would you like “resolution?”

Gravity verses STEP? Good loan verses bad? Who is eligible for subsidizes and who isn’t? Farmers will take the wastewater or they won’t? Seawater Intrusion marches on while the County sits on $5 million intended for conservation devices? Denitrifying septic returned water for drinking? Selling our Solid Waste franchise to the County for a mere $2.8 Million, never to get it back? Paavo and Maria? Which?

The other way is to grandstand on TV and the radio every week clearly getting nowhere.

You obviously do not follow these dedicated citizens very closely; they attend many more meetings that are not televised than are. (They are not allowed appointments with individual Supervisors to take issues up behind closed doors.) They spend their precious time, days and often very long nights, reading documents, buying copies of documents, and mounting travel expenses to cross the state to speak to the State and Regional Water Board, Coastal Commission, and others to make their voices heard.

You’ve fallen in love with the sound of your own ramblings, and probably driven away people who might have something important to contribute to the subject.


What you call “Rambling,” I call free speech. You in the newspaper business are supposed to be the biggest advocates for the 1st Amendment. As for others who may have been “driven away,” I say, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

You have managed to accomplish nothing, really.

Really Shredder? These hard-working, dedicated individuals have brought the overarching Los Osos issue of Seawater Intrusion to the forefront. While you sit comfortably on your porcelain thrown and don’t give flushing it a second thought, the informed citizens of Los Osos have to weigh flushing pollutants into their future drinking supply while depleting their current drinking water supply and paying dearly for it.

Might I suggest a hobby? Perhaps crocheting unicorns onto pillowcases; believe it or not, that’s actually a more substantial contribution to society.

Crochet away dear Shredder, I’d prefer to read the latest Water Conservation report.

I’m a cheapskate, but I’ll happily chip in for yarn if you’ll cork it.

I’m a cheapskate too. I’d like an affordable sewer bill so I can afford a hobby. You say you’ll chip in for yarn? Nice. How about chipping in to pay the bills? Sewer and water combined are estimated at $500.00 per month per house.

I’d rather be a “Los Osos Sewer Nut” than a mushroom. Thanks for the compliment.

Julie Tacker,
40 year Los Osos resident and longtime dedicated “Sewer Nut”



My response to Julie’s email “Viewpoint” to the Shredder’s comments is as follows:

Julie.
Thanks I'll post it Monday. Sadly, "the press" has simply bought The Narrative -- All the sewer projects were/are all fine and anyone who complains about any of them for whatever reason is an Anti-Sewer Obstructionist Nut. Case closed.


And because it IS such a complicated issue, no reporter, except Ron Crawford, has taken a close look at and documented all the really interesting connected dots that illustrate some of the extraordinarily questionable aspects of these various projects as they morphed from the (fake) Ponds of Avalon (the original bait & switch that started the wrong train going down the wrong hill towards the wrong cliff) to the Coastal Commission's "bait & switchy" Tri-W (with the CC's staffer, Monowitz, having been lied to -- Aw, shamey-shamey-- with disastrous consequences) to the present county project. And did I forget to include Roger Briggs and the RWQCB's disgraceful electioneering via the Mad Hatter Tea Party & Torequmada's Auto d Fe "Trial" of the Los Osos 45?)

Lordy, it's a sickening, but dazzling tale, indeed. But one that went untold because while so many of the "Sewer Nuts" were acting as frantic signalmen waving red flags as the Sewer Train hurtled full throttle off onto the wrong tracks and headed for the cliff's edge, The Press labeled them "Sewer Nuts, then took a nap.

Well, understandable. Reading Ron's time-lines and cached documents does take time. Much easier to just call people Sewer Nuts. More fun, too. But hardly qualifies as "journalism."

Quick, Grab the Garlic. And a Mirror. Cross? Wooden Stake?

Well, there’s good news and bad news. First, La Donald has decided he likes show business better than being President so he’s out of the race. His announcement was all very anti-climactic. For a while there, you couldn’t turn on the television or open a paper without La Donald bloviating about some ridiculous topic or another. Hilariously, he ended up being hoist by his own “birther” petard when the President produced his long form birth certificate, (topic over), then at the Washington Press Corps Dinner, Obama stuck a few pins into the Comb-over King and SNL Weekend Update’s Seth Meyers went in for the coup de grace. La Donald was not amused.

A few days later the news came of Osama Bin Laden’s death and La Donald was heard no more. And who says God does not listen to prayers?

Mike Huckabee, another birther, decided God didn’t want him to run. More likely, it was God and Mamon now that he’s one of the well-paid Faux News Fellows.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is running around doing his version of I Voted For It Before I Voted Against It, declaring that the Massachusetts health care plan, which apparently is working very well and liked by most people in the state, is o.k. for them, but the nearly identical ObamaCare means the death of the republic and can’t be allowed for other people in other states.

And finally, we now have Newt Gingrich. Really. Newt? Seriously? He wants to be president because, well, he wants to be president. And once people see the wonderfulness of Newt in all his glorious bloviating gas-baggery they too will flock to bask in his breathtaking gloriousness.

Really. Newt. Dear God in Heaven.

Two? Now there’s TWO?

Recent headline announces that there has been a “second rape in less than a week involving Cal Poly students,” both victims “reportedly intoxicated and unconscious during the attack.”

I don’t know why they bother putting these stories on the front page. Clearly when it comes to some students and booze, Nobody Learns Anything. These young women are lucky they didn’t die of alcohol poisoning, and if they don’t end up pregnant or with an STD (or worse) they should consider themselves lucky. The young men, if they get caught, will find out how changed their lives will become, and not for the better. And the whole thing will Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Which is why Mother Calhoun can’t even get worked up over the whole issue.

But two? Really? That goes from Unfortunate Incident to, Aw, Just How Dumb ARE these Girls, Anyway?

Speaking of Dumb

The May 13 Tribune got around to writing about the May 5-6 Regional Water Quality Control Board Ag / Atascadero water pollution issues (reported here on the May 6 entry). If reporter Tonya Strickland attended the meeting, she clearly missed Chairman Young’s dog-whistle message. The City of Atascadero missed it, that’s for sure. The story quotes City Council-woman Roberta Fonzi as saying, “We’re not happy with the way the decision went. Their rules will be very expensive for us, and we don’t see the need for them.”

Hahahahahah. Councilwoman Fonzi doesn’t understand the game she’s now trapped in. When the State Water Board approves the stealth rule changes, the trap will be set.

In my blog report on this topic, I had two words for the dear Aggies and Atascadero: Los Osos.

Both Chairman Young and the Board’s attorney gave the game away but clearly nobody in the room was listening. And the Tribune missed the real story. As usual.

Freedom Riders

Don’t know if any of you had a chance to watch PBS’s “American Experience” program last night on the Freedom Riders, young black and white college students, many members of CORE (Congress on Racial Equality) who were trained in the principals of non-violence and set out to challenge Jim Crow laws in the south as they applied to interstate travel. In the late 40’s the Supreme Court had ruled that interstate travel could not be subject to segregation, a ruling that was utterly ignored in the south, which meant Whites-Only and Colored-Only bus station facilities throughout the state.

It was this situation the kids set out to challenge by riding on Greyhound and Trailways busses into the 1961 heart of darkness. And dark it was. The KKK-fueled mobs met the kids at their stops. One bus was fire-bombed, the riders nearly burned to death, other bus stations were scenes of riots, the kids severely beaten while local police stood by and/or arrested them (not the men assaulting them) and in the case of Mississippi, betrayed by a “deal” cut by the Feds and the Mississippi Governor, sent them not to city jail, but to prison. All of it documented by some equally brave newsmen.

The two-hour documentary is riveting, the bravery of those young students absolutely breathtaking (Imagine talking back to Birmingham, Alabama’s Commissioner of Public Safety, “Bull” Conner, an out-of-control psychopath who was even feared by the state’s governor. Astonishing.) The footage is often sickening in its accurate portrayal of the hatred and bigotry that was part and parcel of the “southern culture.” (And found in a more polite form outside the south.) And in the willing to face this danger in order to change the world, the documentary echoes events in Egypt’s Tarhir Square: Young kids, fearful, at terrible risk, who still go on, determined to change their world.

For someone born in the ‘70s or later, the documentary would likely look like ancient history that happened on some other planet occupied by ignorant, evil troglodytes. But for me, the film brought back so many memories of how the world was within my lifetime. I remember reading of the Freedom Riders, seeing the shocking images of “Bull” Conner and his police dogs attacking protesters, cringed at the ugly racial stereotypes, the easy use of the N-word, the hatred that usage implied. That was the given reality of the world the film so beautifully depicts; a world where, in many states, black people couldn’t get a cup of coffee in a J.J. Newberry’s, couldn’t use a “white” restroom in a Greyhound bus station, couldn’t even vote, let alone get elected dog catcher. And now, a black man sits in the White House.

Thanks to the young Freedom Riders, thanks to so many extraordinarily brave people willing to risk their lives to make the Constitution a living reality, that world changed utterly. And changed almost beyond recognition within my lifetime.

Which is what made watching the “American Experience” documentary so amazing; as a child and young adult, I lived in one world. Now I live in another world altogether.

That’s how quickly things can change when good people stand up.

We're All Los Osos Now, Baby

Awww, Gawwwdd. It was simply too, too perfect. There was the April 29th “Viewpoint” in the Tribune, an earnest Cri de Coeur from Atascadero Mayor, Tom O’Malley and the city council members bewailing the upcoming Regional Water Quality Control Board’s May 5th meeting.

Remember the RWQCB’s “stealth basin plan update?” Wherein they sent around post-card “notices” with lots of argle-bargle printed on it, post-cards that were more than likely to end up in the trash with the junque mail. So, naturally no residents would show up at the update meetings, so whatever the RWQCB wanted to put into the plan went into the plan and now, here’s the stealth plan, kaBloom! rolled out and ready to be voted on.

And the Mayor is howling. Claiming that the regulations would impact all properties in the city that use septic tanks. That the ordinances would impinge on property rights by prohibiting “secondary residences on parcels less than 2 acres,” require the city to “identify and address areas of potential groundwater that may be degraded by septic systems,” “verify that existing and proposed systems are constructed and maintained in accordance with strict standards which could include inspections,” possibly call for more extensive and expensive septic systems, and “prohibit self-regenerating water softeners.”

Notes the Viewpoint:” “We have steadfastly opposed the regulations; and in addition, the Atascadero Mutual Water Company has tested groundwater near all wells and found no issue with Atascadero’s water quality. The City Council believes strongly that the proposals are not warranted” . . . and that “There have been an insignificant number of failures of septic systems, and this magnitude of increased regulatory oversight is unnecessary.”

Bwa-hahahahah. Awwww, poor babies. I have two words for them: Los Osos.

And then, on May 1, came another Viewpoint, this one from Richard S. Quandt, president and general counsel of the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. His clients – farmers in both counties – have discovered that the RWQCB’s two-year’s work on enforcement of the State’s new rules on groundwater pollution from agriculture, was continuing it’s public comment hearings here in SLOTown, and apparently a whole lot of farmers (and their lawyers) were not amused.

Wrote Quandt:” “Board staff has attempted to justify this regulatory expansion by presenting facts that, when examined, are found to contain omissions, anomalies and unfounded assumptions.

“Instead of creating a complete and science-based factual record upon which to base public policy recommendations, board staff has already determined the direction and is advocating for its position by manipulating information.”

And, “Poorly thought-out policy recommendations take place when government regulators isolate themselves and refuse to vet their predetermined policies with those who will be subject to them. Is it any wonder that board staff agreed to a total of just two meetings with the agricultural working group in the past 24 months?”

Well, Mr. Quandt, I have two words for you, too: Los Osos.

I mean, this is the same staff that gave us the Mad Hatter Tea Party and Torquemada’s Auto De Fe “Trial” of The Los Osos 45. This is the same staff and board that singled out, targeted and slapped CDOs on 45 Los Osos citizens, claiming they were doing it in the name of water quality. But the CDOs did not stay with the property’s septic tank. When the CDO holder sells and moves, the CDO goes away. What homeowner digs up his septic tank and takes it with him when he moves? Right. Nobody. So this CDO was never about “water quality,” or even septic tanks. It was an illegal act of electioneering and a complete abuse of regulatory power used to terrorize a handful of people as an example to a town in order to influence their vote.

And now Atascadero and the good farmers in Santa Barbara and SLO counties are going to find out what Los Ososians have known for years.

Mayor O’Malley meet Mr. Briggs. Mr. Briggs, Mr. O’Malley. Mr. Quandt? Mr. Briggs. Mr. Briggs, Mr. Quandt.

Too delicious a scenario to miss, which is why I headed into the Aero Vista St. RWQCB meeting room, which was packed. Two board members recused themselves on account of they owned irrigated land and the Board is short one member, so there wasn’t a quorum. Which meant there could be no final vote, only a recommendation from the remaining panel.

Since the meeting was a continuation of the one that started in Watsonville, it started in the middle of public comment from a whole bunch of irritated farmers asserting the usual:

-- objections over process, confusion over what would or would not be admitted as testimony, a constantly changing draft report making it impossible to comment sint it was always a moving target.

--the proposed ordinances requiring another level of regulations to help clean up nitrates in groundwater caused by ag practices shouldn’t just target farmers but should it everyone

-- the program shouldn’t be mandatory, should be voluntary. The regs are a one-size-fits-all, which means they won’t fit anybody. The reporting rules are onerous, the staff doesn’t know what they’re talking about, the program is setting farmers up for failure after which they’ll be prosecuted.

-- the science being used is based on inaccurate info, the staff report seems to behave as if nitrates in groundwater are a point source issue, not a non-point source issue, there are too many anomalies, incorrect data .

--the cost of this program will be onerous and may take ag land out of production or cause farmers to go out of business.

If you’re a Los Ososian, all of this will sound sadly familiar.

But the best discourse of the day came from Mr. Edward Hard, from the Department of Food and Agriculture, Fertilizer Research & Education Program, Division of Inspection Services, State of California, who stood at the podium for quite some time and quietly tried to point out that part of the regulation targets that are based on nitrogen uptake values of crops, one of the key target numbers that farmers must aim for, is problematic since there are no scientific studies that correctly give those uptake values.

In other words, the RWQCB wrote a draft ordinance that basically requires a regulation based on no known science – just grabbed some kind of “average” number, for example, then wrote an ordinance that required farmers to somehow to meet that number, even though that number had no known science to back it up as accurate or even realistic. And if that target is missed, the farmer could face enforcement and fines. And scientifically evaluating those uptake numbers on even two crops would take two years and as over 200 crops are involved, getting a real number could take years and years, which we don’t have because nitrate pollution from ag is rising and is a serious problem that can’t wait.

After which another Ph.D soil scientist guy quietly pointed out that part of his PhD was to look at nitrogen uptake in cotton and the best that particular plant could do was a 50% uptake, not 1:1, so put most simply, farmers have to over-fertilize to get optimum plant uptake, but it’s all much more complex than simply pounds per acre and depends on many, many variables.

In short, the science just isn’t there yet, so it’s more seat-of-pants growing, which may well account for a good deal of the excess nitrogen ending up in the water. And rather than simply setting target numbers, perhaps a better way to go is to set up an irrigation program to create a cadre of highly trained folks who can work with ranchers to better control water and fertility and hence nitrogen use versus just having farmers fill out forms that nobody will read.

All of which caused Chairman Young to exasperatedly crank at the bland Mr. Hard that Dammit, the Board is there to regulate, they’re charged by the State of California to regulate the waters of the state, so by god they’re gonna pass some sort of regulation, then let the farmers (or science) somehow figure it all out later. (If you live in Los Osos, this will sound, really, really familiar.)

Later, at Staff comment time, it was asserted that that mysterious non-scientific uptake number wasn’t what it was in the draft, but something different or, oh, like whatever . . . The farmer I was sitting with, snorted through their nose at that. He was not amused.

And on it went, until the group pushing the Ag Alternative Proposal showed up with piles of new “testimony,” which Chairman Young allowed into the record even though that violated the rules concerning public comment. They were proposing that there was a better way to go, rather than a one well, one farm “regulatory” approach since there’s a real fear and distrust of the Board. That caused Chairman Young to go all treacle and tears, sorrowing and sighing about how “unfortunate” it is that farmers should be fearful of having the hammer of enforcement coming down on them. Which was hilarious. Clearly, Chairman Young has forgotten . . . The Los Osos 45. Ah, how sharp the serpent’s tooth . . .

Instead, the Ag Alt program would work in groups and/or regions and monitor well data in the aggregate while working with cooperative farmers to meet regional goals of reducing overall nitrate numbers. And if a particular farmer in the group balks, or refuses to work to improve his operation, the Ag Group could dump him and leave him to the tender mercies of Roger Briggs.

And it was this plan that Chairman Young bent over backwards to ensure would get a second look and so its various components will be considered as an addendum to the proposed ordinance and it all be returned for a possible vote in Sept.

Thus endeth the Ag ordinance, for the time being. From the grumbles I heard, the farmers in the room left town with a very guarded outlook. But what amazed me was the soft soap the Board served up to the agricultural community. Even Roger Briggs, in his closing remarks, went on and on about how minimal these regs are, how un-burdensome they were, how minimal, how benign. And board member Jefferies went so far as to hand-wring about his deep concerns that these regs should not create a financial burden, that farmers shouldn’t be forced out of their ranches, that businesses be harmed, even though the Board kept reiterating that the nitrate problem was terrible! a crisis! a danger!

Which was ironic. If, as they claimed, nitrate contamination by ag practices were a Terrible Crisis! then the Board needed to single out 45 farmers, slap CDOs on them, put them through a Mat Hatter “trial, threaten them with jail, even “fine them out of existence.”

But, no, there would be no CDOs for these aggies. Instead, everything about this ordinance would be aimed at doing the very least. Which is why nobody should ever underestimate the power of big Ag that arrives en mass with their attorneys. As usual, God bless the child. . . .

On Thursday, it was Atascadero’s time in the barrel as the Board considered voting on the update of the region-wide onsite system implementation plan that was also updated in 2008 & 2009, so the Board maintained that this was no big deal, just a few minor details. Which is how they do these thing: confuse criteria with implementation. Minor update or not, various Atascadero officials and their attorneys showed up to complain that there’s no evidence of ground water problems from septics, no evidence of problems from salt water softeners, no evidence that you need to treat new and old systems differently, the regulations conflict with State law, it doesn’t have a Burden Benefit Analysis as required, the update is premature because the state is still working on their overriding updates so Why is the local RWQCB jumping the gun? Also, there’s no showing (lack of findings) of necessity and authorities for the regulations, CEQA requirements are not met, it constitutes an unfunded mandate, is too costly. And on and on and on.

In short, Atascadero authorities showed up to say, It ain’t broke so why are you fixing it? Which shows that these good folks don’t understand. This isn’t about fixing broken things, it isn’t about science or practical reality. It’s about command and control. It’s about quietly laying the ground work, a few stealth pieces at a time, to carefully create the unchallengeable confusion of criteria and implementation. That is, first pass a resolution, say Resolution 83-13, with a set of rules (criteria) and claim that’s since it’s been voted on it’s a done deal (even though the proposal may not have been finalized by the State Water Board). If these rules (criteria) are challenged in court at this phase, the judge will be told that the resolution (criteria) can only be challenged when they’re implemented (the case is “ripe.”) When that does happens, often years later, the Board then claims that the statute of limitations is long past and so it can’t be challenged. It’s the perfect Major Major Major ploy from “Catch 22.”

But the earnest Atascaderians didn’t understand and kept babbling on about how fine their septic tanks were, how well they were operating, often within a few hundred of feet of their drinking water wells when suddenly, Chairman Young’s nose twitched, his eyes narrowed, his ears perked up to a Boiiiiiing alert point and he quietly asked the babbler whether there were septic tanks located over “potential drinking water.”

Ah, yes, the dog whistle lure of Porter Cologne. The RWQCB doesn’t need science. It doesn’t need facts. As the Board’s attorney reminded the sweet, clueless dim bulbs from Atascadero, if there’s discharges anywhere that “could” impact any water of the State of California, then the RWQCB has the legal authority to prosecute even without any evidence that there actually is any actual pollution. “Could impact” is sufficient to land anyone in the Land of Enforcement. So you can see why Chairman Young’s nose twitched? Yes. “Potential drinking water source?”

Poor Atascadero. They didn’t hear that dog whistle. They didn’t notice the abyss that had been under their feet all along. No legs to stand on. Poor dears.

Unlike the aggies with their lawyers, the City of Atascadero and their lawyers were told, Thanks for stopping by, good luck, here’s the door, if you have any questions, call our staff, Buh-bye. Resolution accepted as is: 6-0.

Like all RWQCB meetings, this one again left me scratching my head. How is it possible that everything the RWQCB does ends up FUBAR? It’s truly amazing. I suspect much of the problem comes from the utter lack of transparency (or common sense) in water law. That’s a Byzantine nightmare realm that nobody can navigate. Add in the absolute lack of transparency, chronic duplicity and constant political manipulation and hidden agendas of the RWQCB and staff, and I suppose FUBAR shouldn’t be a surprise.

And speaking of which: Agenda # 13 was the issuance of a discharge permit for the Los Osos Sewer Project. I wasn’t able to make that hearing on account of having to go up to Atascadero to get my greyhound, the Mighty Finn McCool, out of the emergency hospital up there. (He had some terrible incident late the night before that looked like possible (lethal) bloat but likely turned out to be some weird, extremely painful neck/spine spasm.) So I got to the meeting too late but was told that in addition to the issuance of that waiver, the Board also – finally – had to formally admit that, yes, while they targeted 45 citizens and put them through an insane show trial and slapped them with CDOs, and put the whole community under a building moratorium and locked it into a PZ which forbids discharge of waste into the waters of the state of California, the same RWQCB would now grant the County/Sewer project a formal exemption from Resolution 83-13 and grant permission to . . . . discharge waste into the PZ and into waters of the state of California.

God bless the child . . . .

RWQCB Hearing on Los Osos Sewer Project

The following is information on the upcoming Regional Water Quality Control Board hearing on the Sewer Project. The meeting will be at their Aerovista offices in SLOTOWN.

Central Coast Water Board staff has recently posted its May 5, 2011 Water Board Agenda. The agenda can be found here...

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2011/may/May_agenda.shtml


The Proposed Los Osos Water Recycling Facility Waste Discharge Requirements Order No. R3-2011-0001 can be found at Agenda No. 13. The link is active and will direct you to the following documents or select the following link.

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2011/may/Item_13/index.shtml


1) Staff Report (includes public comments and staff responses)
2) The proposed Water Discharge Requirements as well as the Monitoring and Reporting Program,
3) Central Coast Standard Provisions
4) Modifications and Updates from Waste Discharge Order Nos. Order R3-2003-0007 to Order No. R3-2011-0001
5) San Luis Obispo County Counsel letter responding to The Citizens for a Sustainable Community's request for additional environmental review.
6) Public Comments

Thank you,

Alice in Wonderland, Part HUH?

Some of the Sewer Addicted ankle-chewers who log onto this site and chew, have made it clear to me that they may have missed some important info in the PZLDF case.

A few:
1. PZLDF was originally founded by CDO recipients, among others, who were parties to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was and is and remains an effort on the part of some of the randomly singled out homeowners to protect their civil rights, property rights and constitutional rights from an illegal taking/abuse of process. It has nothing to do with sewer tanks or sewers. It has to do with fines and jail time hanging over these 45 heads (while ignoring all the other homes in the PZ.)

2. If memory serves, and please correct me if I've got this out of order, but the CSD had several CDOs of their own. (Firehouse, Vista de Oro, Bay Ridge Estates) For the ACL heaing, the CSD originally hired Steve Onstott to look out for the district's CDO's on the first Mad Hatter "Trial." During the second Mad Hatter Trial (which resulted when they had to stop and start all over again) Mr. Seitz (CSD attorney) successfully argued that the CSD had no assets the RWQCB could tap into (legally) and slyly noted that the CSD actually IS the People and the People ARE the CSD, hint-hint.  After the ACL hearing, the RWQCB took Mr. Seitz "hint" and then issued their randomly targeted 45 CDO's (Thanks, Seitz).  The RWQCB suggested that  the LOCSD  join the 45 as an “interested party” when they issued the CDO’s to the randomly targeted Los Osos 45 since the 45 were going to be relying on testimony and material already submitted in the ACL hearing, thereby mingling cases and incorporating by reference & etc. I beleive Shaunna and Seitz were the attorneys of record during the second co-mingled Mad Hatter Tea Party “Trial,”  so the 45 and the CSD did have a common interest. At some point after the second Mad Hatter “Trial,”  and after the CSD voted to continue to defend the CDOs in a "real court," (theirs and the 45, which were interwtined), Mr. Seitz severed the CSD’s role as an “interested party” in the lawsuit, while Shauna Sullivan continued on her own to represent the remaining Los Osos 45 who were involved in the suit.

3. The current lawsuit, in which Shaunna is still the attorney of record, is an appeal of the RWQCB actions and decisions. The appeal is confined to arguing only what the prosecution team asserted in the case. This included the RWQCB documents such as resolution 83-13, which is how that issue came into the case. So, while this case has nothing to do with sewers, the reason for all of this goes back to the original 83-13 and the various “findings” and all the other weirdness that 83-13 resolution contained. (For utterly bizarre weirdness, you can’t beat this: Slapping a moratorium on a town claiming that you have evidence that high nitrates in the groundwater are caused by septic tanks. THEN immediately allowing the building of 1,100 MORE homes with septic tanks that will, as you claim, pollute the groundwater with nitrates. You do not “fix” a nitrate problem by ADDING MORE nitrate producers. Then later claim that only 45 people are now suddenly “guilty of” polluting the groundwater when it was your regulatory body that allowed those additional homes &; etc.)

4. The insanity of so much of what the RWQCB asserts has, so far as I can see, gone unanswered by a “real” court of law, including Judge Crandall. And it’s possible that, as I noted in my previous post, looney, left-hand-doesn’t-know-what-right-hand is doing regulatory statutes may trump constitutional guarantees of due process and basic common sense.

For example, one funny (unless you’re one of the 45) outcome in the CDO: The moment The Los Osos 45 hook up to the county sewer, they are in immediate violation of their CDO. The CDO forbids any “discharge” of wastewater/pollution/etc. into the PZ. The County sewer will be “discharging” waste into the PZ. Catch 22: hook up to the sewer, violate the terms of your CDO. Also, the CDO forbids “discharge” of anything, even clean water, so this ban violates the community’s need to recharge the water basin as mandated by laws and regulations adopted since 83-13. More Catch 22.

And, while the RWQCB blandly claims that criminal prosecution and fines are not “likely consequences,” they never explain why are they in the CDO order? Plus, more Catch 22, if these CDO’s are not challenged now, they will not be challengeable if and when criminal actions/ penalties are sought. It’s the old game of: You have to wait until actual harm comes to you and when it does, it’s too late to file your suit since the window has closed. Ha-ha.

Which is another question a “real” court needs to answer. Is it a violation of basic civil rights and constitutional guarantees to create regulations that trap citizens in legal Catch 22’s with NO way to defend themselves or their homes?

While the Razor/Rock posted their personal take on Judge Crandall’s ruling, (while veering off on some irrelevant personal ankle chewing) many of their comments lead me to believe they are unfamiliar with the case as a whole. And, of course, neither R/R are attorneys, so I fully understand someone non-lawyerish not understanding the case as a whole since it’s incredibly complex, been through two judges, whole parts have been tossed out (with no appeal possible until the final ruling), so sorting through what’s left and what really needs to be appealed, is a real tangle.

Plus, since the case is wrongly but constantly reported in the press as being portrayed as sewerish and septic tankish, it’s easy to forget the narrow, non-sewerish issues that actually are being brought to a “real” court. And so it’s simple to veer off into irrelevant issues.

I have no idea if The Los Osos 45 who are party to this suit will file an appeal. As an original non-CDO part of this case, Judge La Barbara removed me from the case long, long ago. (Only actual CDO holders were allowed to proceed.) So, that decision is certainly not mine to make. But, personally, I rather hope they do since the unresolved issues raised in this case are going to show up again throughout the state in the future. And, if they decide not to proceed, I’ll understand that also.

I have said before and I’ll say again: What the RWQCB did to these 45 people was wrong. The reason for doing it (electioneering, coercion) was wrong. The abusive, Mad Hatter, Catch 22 nature of the regulations was (and is) both looney and wrong. And, if it stands, then everyone in the state of California will be Los Osos 45ers. And that will still be wrong.

Oh, and fair warning to some of the more out of control ankle-chewers who comment on this blog. Mother Calhoun and her little trash can icon are watching you.

Final Workshop

The déjà vu was eerie.  Winter.  Cold.  Night.  Los Osos Junior High School.  About a couple of hundred people out of a community of about 5,000 homes gathered to hear about a sewer project.  One event in 1984, this one in 2010. Same people, same issue.  Makes me tired even thinking about it.

Well, this workshop was the final piece in the Hideous Los Osos Sewer Project; the ordinance setting rates and charges.  If the “protest” vote is not successful (with 50% plus one required, damned near impossible to accomplish), developed property owners will be paying to cover the capital costs of their neighbor’s undeveloped property, plus an additional fee based on their own (indoor) water usage. If and when water issues are resolved, and undeveloped property owners are allowed to develop, they will then pay the entire original assessment and R&C fees, and the total R&C will drop slightly on developed property (at least the fixed capital cost portion will.)  If there is no water and undeveloped property can’t develop, the developed property owners will pay the full freight for the whole deal.

It was anticipated that a critical water report and other info coming in the spring may give a better picture as to water availability and if it looks like a sure thing, the County will hold an assessment vote for the undeveloped land-owners and if successful, the fixed portion of the R&C will drop accordingly.

The water portion of the R&C will be based on your Jan/Feb water bills.  The presumption will be that that’s “indoor” water use. It will be figured on your Jan/Feb numbers, annualized, times $7.54 per unit. Check your water bill last year to see how many units you used in Jan/Feb to get a guestimate on what your individual cost will be. (The formula from the CSD hand-out is “usage found on your water bill x 745 gallons divided by 60 will give you average daily use”) A unit is 748 gallons) In addition, the CSD office has all kinds of great water info available to help you figure this out and how to conserve water as well. And the county website will also have info needed to calculate estimates.

It’s important to do this early-on because right now people may have the county’s glossy brochure figure of $194 total for their sewer bill floating around in their head, which is misleading.  Onto that you’ll have to tack your own water usage from the R&Cs, which may come as a huge sticker shock to many people.  And, of course, you still have your regular water bill on top of all that. I suspect that a $300-a-month water/sewer bill will not be at all uncommon. Oh, I almost forgot, a $300-a-month plus costs for hook up, if you financed that. So, will a $350++ a month water/sewer/hook up bill become the new norm?     

It’s not known yet whether the R&C will come as a monthly bill or be added to the tax rolls. Landlords will be getting the bill so they’ll have to figure out a fair charge for their tenants.

The original $25,000 per home assessment will appear on the 2010/11 tax bills.  The R&C won’t appear until the 2014 hook-up.

On lot costs will involve decommissioned septic tanks, pipe run to lateral and is the sole responsibility of the homeowner.  Guestimated costs run between $2,000 to $5,000.  The county is looking for grants to help with low-income folks to help pay for hook-up costs and the county is also looking into the possibility of waiving or reducing the various permits needed to decommission tanks (inspection fees & etc.), and I presume the County will have a list of recommended companies certified to do that kind of work so people can avoid shoddy fly-by-nighters who could leave them with an expensive mess.

The county is also working on making information available for homeowners who want to use their abandoned septics as a rain-water cistern system or as a cachement system to keep rainwater on their property for percolation into the ground.  And for people who are using extensive greywater, they’ll have to consult with the county if they want to get a more accurate rate on their indoor water use, since that fee is based on the amount of used water that’s actually going down into the sewer pipes, which greywater isn’t.

And the county’s looking into financial help for poor folks who have no way of paying those high on-lot costs. It’s not known at this time if or how much help is or will be available, but some of the grants are only available to counties while others individual homeowners must apply for themselves. With the state broke, even more of this community fallen into PoorVille, this community needs to brace for more people losing their homes on account of this project.  And brace for a shrug of indifference from various government agencies.  Not their problem.

A few Questions from the audience:

Will cost overruns on the project be added to the R&C?  No, legally can’t be added to either the base assessment or the R&C.  The county’s not anticipating cost over runs, the bids that have been coming in on other projects are running 30% under the usual costs due to the lack of work and very hungry contractors and the cost guestimates were pegged in the mid-range so there’s some wiggle room before going over.  And if costs end up going under the guestimates, the amount collected will also go down. 

Supervisor Gibson said he intended to ask the RWQCB to remove the CDOs from The Los Osos 45.  Yeah, well, good luck with that one.

Several people asked about holding a special tax for residents in the Los Osos Basin, a tax that would ensure that people living outside the PZ would be taxed and said tax would broaden the tax base for the sewer and would go to help pay for the sewer since folks living outside the PZ are benefiting from the clean water created by the treatment plant, but aren’t paying to clean it.  That’s something Paavo Ogren said they were looking into and when the water reports are in, the county may take a look at doing that.  If a majority (50%) of homeowners inside the PZ voted for such a “use” tax on their neighbors outside the PZ, it would pass.

Another question involved using old census data to determine median household income, for example.  That data is certainly out of date and would have an impact on whether grants are available.  If the old data showed us to be a wealthy community and that’s no longer the case, then that data must be updated.  In addition, the grant monies and lower interest loans available via the SRF program depend on those numbers, as do Federal guidelines as to affordability.  And, clearly, if this project wasn’t “affordable” under 2000 census data, it sure isn’t “affordable” now. Sometime in the spring, that data may be available, as will information from the SRF funds.  So, that may result in better terms and hence lower costs. Or maybe not. One thing is sure, the really interesting numbers may start showing up with the new census data.  Way back in 2000, the original CSD members were using numbers that guestimated that 33% of the community would be forced out of town by the (then)  proposed sewer costs.  Is that percentage still right or will it be higher or lower? The 2010 numbers may tell a tale.  

The workshop was taped by AGP Video and so will be shown on local cable.

The Board of Supervisors meets Dec 14^th to certify the “protest vote.”