Supervisors Discuss Options After Rejection of Superfund Designation for Tijuana River Valley

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre told the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to continue its effort to get a Superfund site designation the Tijuana River Valley despite a rejection by the Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday.

“We have one of the highest levels of absenteeism in South Bay Union School District,” Aguirre said during Wednesday’s public comment period. “We have a number of elementary and high schools that are less than half a mile within some of these areas.”

Aguirre said research has found at least 172 toxic chemicals present in the South County area that can be carcinogenic, and re-suspended in the air, soil and water.

Aguirre is running to fill the board’s vacant District 1 seat.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a letter Jan. 3 denying Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s request to investigate the area for a Superfund designation because “none of these contaminants exceeded EPA’s regional screening levels for human health in residential soil.”

According to reports, the EPA cited only studies conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and International Boundary and Water Commission from more than six years before, ignoring more recent samples that found concentrations of several hazardous chemicals.

Lawson-Remer issued a statement early Tuesday evening criticizing the decision, saying area residents “are desperate for relief from the sewage and trash flowing across our border, so I am extremely disappointed the Environmental Protection Agency will not even conduct a site assessment of the Tijuana River Valley to see if it qualifies for the federal government’s hazardous waste Superfund program.”

“It is troubling that the EPA didn’t even visit the site and instead based its decision on samples collected years ago — when the reality is that things have gotten much worse since then,” she added.

A Superfund designation lets the EPA clean up contaminated areas. Noted projects include Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York and the Upper Columbia River in Washington state.

Over the past few years, concerns have grown about pollution in the Tijuana River Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border — including sewage spills, contaminated beaches and noxious odors. A broken wastewater treatment plant in Baja California is considered the main cause.

Michael Montgomery, director of the EPA’s Region 9 Superfund division, on Wednesday told supervisors that while his agency cannot designate the Tijuana River Valley as a Superfund site, it is willing to work with the county via other agencies.

Montgomery explained how the Superfund program works, and cited examples such as abandoned uranium mines, military base clean-ups and groundwater contamination.

“I can’t begin to explain the seriousness with which we approach this problem,” he added.

Montgomery said he has worked on the border program for years and added “that there’s always a point in the process, where you have to ask yourself, `Do we have enough information to be able to make a decision?”‘

Supervisor Jim Desmond thanked Montgomery for explaining the EPA’s position, but added that his head was “about to explode” over discussion of more studies, testing and data collection.

“We’ve got sewage coming across the border,” Desmond said. “That’s our problem. We don’t need more testing. We’ve known (about) this problem for decades.”

Desmond said he while he understands the EPA can only do so much, “this is an international border …  so we’re kind of turning to you and other entities, and saying, `Help us.”‘

“We want to open our beaches, Desmond said. “We’ve had freaking beaches closed for over 1,000 days, over three years, in Imperial Beach and in Coronado.”

“We just need an agency with the cajones to step up and fix this thing,” he added.

Desmond asked about a possible exemption process to get EPA help, but Montgomery said Congress would have to approve new EPA policy rules.

Lawson-Remer said all she wants “is for the EPA to come out and take soil site samples,” Lawson-Remer said.

If samples found there were no toxins in the soil, “my answer would be, `Great. Thank goodness.”‘

On Oct. 8, Lawson-Remer announced she would pursue a federal Superfund designation for the Tijuana River Valley, after supervisors voted to 3-2 to have county leaders present options for cleaning up the South County region.

Dahvia Lynch, deputy chief administrative officer, said Wednesday that the report suggested other approaches, including pursuing funding via the federal Clean Air Act.

Supervisors on Wednesday voted 4-0 to formally receive the county staff report, which Lawson-Remer said looked like “we are doing nothing.”

Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe said she didn’t see the Wednesday vote as futile.

“I don’t think we’re doing absolutely nothing,* Montgomery Steppe said, noting that water is a very complex topic.

“We have a couple of different paths,” she added. “This is a system we have to work through, and that’s just the way that it is.”

National City Councilman Marcus Bush said he was asking the Board of Supervisors “to have a renewed focus on this crisis.”

Bush criticized the Biden administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom for not declaring an emergency in the Tijuana River Valley.

“The Superfund site is an opportunity… to really a send a message that this is a crisis,” Bush said.