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County Supervisor Chair Nora Vargas, whose district encompasses the Tijuana River Valley, got her Republican colleagues to agree to stall a Superfund designation proposal introduced by her Democratic colleague Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer on Tuesday.
As our MacKenzie Elmer reported earlier this week, Superfund status, which certifies an area has been contaminated with hazardous waste, can take years to get. The status can compel the state government to put in dollars for clean-up and allow governments to pursue the contaminators to cover costs. If the contaminators can’t be identified or no longer exist, the federal government would foot the cleanup bill.
Lawson-Remer said she’s going to pursue it anyway.
“We are submitting an immediate petition to the EPA requesting a Superfund designation,” Lawson-Remer, who is up for re-election in November, said in a press release.
Vargas, who is also up for re-election this year, said the county needs more time to understand all the legal and property value ramifications pursuing Superfund status would entail. Under her motion, which passed, after 90 days, the county’s chief administration officer would come back to the board with that analysis. At least one public speaker said he was concerned about the government trying to use eminent domain to kick out people living and working in the valley during cleanup if it became a Superfund site.
Lawson-Remer and Democratic Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe voted against the delay. Lawson-Remer said the county doesn’t know the full scope decades of pollution from Tijuana may have on the soil and groundwater, so pursuing Superfund could compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do intensive testing.
But getting a Superfund designation on land polluted by another country could prove to be extra tricky, EPA officials have said. Typically, it takes years for locations to even get the designation, let alone for cleanup to begin.
Paloma Aguirre, mayor of Imperial Beach which is most affected by the contamination, told Voice she was disappointed in the county’s decision to delay.
“We know that securing Superfund designation is a long process, but beginning it now is crucial to prevent further delays in remediation efforts, especially in light of our unanswered call for a state of emergency,” Aguirre said.