Calhouns Can(n)ons

Mr. Young, Meet Sheriff Hedges, Hedges, Mr. Young. Where’s Mr. Murphy?

The following letter was sent to the Chairman of the RWQCB after the Moylans (one of The Los Osos 45, who have a CDO on their home) received this ginormous official-looking packet of paperwork from Mr. Murphy. To date, I know of nobody in the community who has received even an email alert, or a Fraud alert or anything on this, even though Roger Briggs and/or Harvey Packard have email addresses on a whole bunch of folks here in the community. To my knowledge, no attempt was made to contact anyone to let them know there was a “fraud” alert. A standard press-release was sent to the media, but I sure didn’t see anything in the Tribune, nor did I get an email, did you?

Sorry, folks, but the RWQCB needed to do better than this, as the letter below spells out. Once again, indifference or incompetence? Or both?


To: Jeffrey Young, Chairman CCRWQCB
From: CDO#R3-2006-1041
Re: CCRWQCB refusal to redact personal information re: CDO #R3-2006-1041
Date: October 1, 2008

On January 30, 2006, we received via post a Proposed Cease and Desist Order, including information on requesting and obtaining redaction. Following the instructions provided we submitted a request for redaction to avoid any negative consequences arising from public access to our personal information.

On February 20, 2006, we received an email from Lori Okun, prosecution team counsel, denying our request with the following statement:

You have requested non-disclosure of your name, residence and mailing address, and APN. However, you have provided no information to support that request. Cases interpreting the Public Records Act state that speculation of harrassment is not sufficient to justify withholding this type of information. Accordingly, the Water Board is required to disclose this information in response to Public Records Act requests and intends to do so this week.

A copy of this email is included in the record compiled by PZLDF.

On September 17, 2008, Mr. William Moylan met with Mr. Harvey Packard regarding the status of the CCRWQCB enforcement actions against Prohibition Zone homeowners. As an aside Mr. Packard stated that a Mr. Tom Murphy had submitted a public records request concerning Prohibition Zone residents facing CCRWQCB enforcement.

On September 29, 2008, we received via post a packet of documents from Advanced Environmental Systems, Inc. (AES, Inc.) threatening legal retaliation if we did not agree in writing within 60 days to install the Reclamator Service ™ at a cost of $24, 941.19 to be paid over a term of 180 months at a rate of 10% per annum. This packet included quasi-legal documents containing the personal and property information that we had requested be redacted in 2006. The CCRWQCB has a copy of the AES, Inc. documents.

The CCRWQCB’s refusal and failure to grant us redaction at the outset of its enforcement actions against us have exposed us to pernicious harassment, blackmail, and fraud by AES, Inc., with which we understand Mr. Tom Murphy has an affiliation. For two days we agonized over this new threat engendered by the CCRWQCB’s original enforcement and by Ms. Okun’s precipitous decision that paved the way for AES, Inc.’s correspondence. On October 1, 2008, we received a forwarded email containing a CCRWQCB press release notice that AES, Inc.’s actions constituted fraud. Directly affected by these developments, we have received no personal communication from the CCRWQCB in this regard.
The CCRWQCB’s 2006 decision to deny our redaction request discounted and dismissed our very real and legitimate concerns about the harassment we might encounter were our personal information to be made public. Our names and property information have been readily available to anyone with a public records request who might wish to harass and harm us or in some way profit from CCRWQCB enforcement against us as AES, Inc. has now done.

Chairman Young, you promised months ago to revisit enforcement following a successful 218 vote, but you reneged. Your failure to suspend enforcement actions in the wake of the successful 218 vote has directly resulted in our continued exposure, not only to CCRWQCB enforcement, but also to random harassment, blackmail, and fraud from the public at large. Your failure to act on the Prohibition Zone enforcement is directly responsible for our exposure to this recent threat from AES, Inc.

It is not enough that the CCRWQCB sent out a press release repudiating AES, Inc.’s actions. It is not enough that the CCRWQCB created the appearance of protecting the public when it has not ensured protection of the public. As a public agency, the CCRWQCB has an obligation to protect the people. Your agency must take responsibility for those you randomly targeted and in turn have exposed to other predators. Your agency has a duty to find out exactly whom AES, Inc. has contacted and to ensure without delay that those who have received the Reclamator Service ™ packet know that it is fraudulent.

It was you, Chairman Young, who said that the actions brought against us thus far were not criminal. If, indeed, we are not criminals, then we demand the protection of our privacy to which we are entitled as private citizens. The CCRWQCB owed us protection from the exposure we have faced since the beginning of the individual enforcement proceedings. This exposure has now manifested itself in the form of AES, Inc.’s threatening correspondence. The CCRWQCB set the original conditions precipitating this outcome. The CCRWQCB is responsible for rectifying the damage which this exposure has caused us.

The CCRWQCB has put us in harm’s way. Though a CCRWQCB staff member offered a verbal apology for this current breach, no apology can compensate for what has happened to us as a result of CCRWQCB policy and actions. We demand more than an apology and a press release. You must take immediate steps now to protect us from AES, Inc. and from any future perpetrators who would try to profit from the enforcement actions you have taken against us.

We demand that you protect us. We demand that you advise us in writing of how you intend to protect us. We demand that this entire matter be referred to the SWRCB, and we demand a copy of the SWRCB response. In addition, since the CCRWQCB does not approve the Reclamator Service™ as a way to meet CCRWQCB requirements for onsite systems, we demand your assistance in finding an onsite system to meet our CDO mandate. The time limits set forth in our CDO require our compliance in obtaining CCRWQCB approval and installation of an onsite system if the county system is not timely approved and built. We need to move forward in meeting the CDO mandate to avoid the fines stipulated in our CDO #R3-2006-1041, and we require the assistance you are bound by your own regulations to provide.

Your prompt reply is anticipated.

Cc:
John Hayashi, Board Member
David Hodgin, Board Member
Dr. Monica Hunter, Board Member
Russell Jeffries, Board Member
Dr. Daniel M. Press, Board Member
Gary Shallcross, Board Member
Tam Dudoc, SWRCB Chair
Sullivan & Associates


Meantime, over at Sewerwatch . . .

Ron Crawford’s posted “My Follow Up To My Open Letter To Tribune Executive Editor Sandra Duerr . . .” at www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com