The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has denied a request to investigate the Tijuana River Valley for a superfund designation, a label issued to some of the most toxic places in the nation needing long-term cleanup.
In a Jan. 3 letter to local elected officials, the federal agency said a site inspection of the river valley – the first step in a lengthy process that evaluates whether a site poses a threat to public health – was not warranted for several reasons.
Among them was that concentrations of polluting substances previously found in the area did not exceed the EPA’s threshold for health concerns. The agency said its decision was based on “an extensive search and review of available data” and other information petitioners included in their request.
In its letter, the EPA cited only studies conducted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the International Boundary and Water Commission more than six years ago. Water and sediment samples collected from the channels of the Tijuana River watershed found concentrations of several hazardous chemicals, such as banned pesticides and phthalates.
“These studies … (exceeded) ecological screening levels in the transboundary drainages and Tijuana River,” Michael Montgomery, director of the EPA’s Superfund and Emergency Management Division, said in the letter to officials.
“However, none of these contaminants exceeded EPA’s regional screening levels for human health in residential soil and are commonly associated with urban stormwater runoff at these concentrations,” he added.
Officials who had submitted the request called on the EPA to collect more recent samples of contaminants, given that pollution has worsened in recent years.
“For too long, the people of South County have paid the price for inaction to clean up our air, water, and beaches,” Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre said in a statement, adding that “the EPA should be monitoring and protecting us from hazardous chemicals.”
In an emailed statement Tuesday, the EPA said it did not collect additional samples because the petition “would have needed to identify and request a specific sampling location in the U.S. for EPA to take such action.”
Montgomery said in the Jan. 3 letter that the EPA’s water division will develop a monitoring program “to quantify and better measure the percentage of untreated sewage in the Tijuana River during dry-weather flows.”
He added that the EPA had also rejected the superfund petition because several other efforts are underway to reduce the amount of pollution that spills into the river valley. Montgomery named projects such as the overhaul of wastewater treatment plants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, a recently added trash boom system to sweep up debris flowing from Tijuana and the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District’s online dashboard that tracks sewer gas levels and advises the public on what to do if concentrations surpass certain levels.
In October, county Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, Aguirre, National City Councilmember Marcus Bush and La Mesa City Councilmember Jack Shu submitted the request to designate the six-mile portion of the southernmost portion of the Tijuana River Valley as a superfund site. They included more than 500 signatures from residents all over the county.
The goal was to get the EPA to help pay for what would be a massive cleanup and find answers to crucial questions about the quality of the soil and air. They submitted their request after the county Board of Supervisors delayed a decision to ask the same of the federal agency.
Officials said at the time that they needed more time to weigh how involving the EPA might reduce local control and affect everything from local property values to tourism. Some, including residents who own property in the river valley, worry that a superfund designation will decrease their property values and put several other projects in limbo.
On Wednesday, the county board is expected to consider its options to help unlock state and federal funds for cleaning up pollution.
