THE CITY OF SAN BRUNO SEWAGE DUMPING SCANDAL. WHO KNEW WHAT, WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT AND WHAT DID THEY DO? DOES THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN INVESTIGATING AND ADDRESSING THIS POLLUTION NIGHTMARE?
Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 4:26 PM by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon
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Was there a coverup in San Bruno's City Government to hide and/or deceive regulators and the public about these 148 raw sewage spills that took place over a 5 year period? Were official and/or unofficial documents or reports destroyed, altered or otherwise changed to hide these spills or mislead regulators and/or the public about these raw sewage spills? Who are the players in this eco-disaster? Who knew what, when did they know it and what did they do?
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The Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice handles environmental and natural resources litigation on behalf of the United States. One of their jobs is to prosecute cases under federal pollution law. In my opinion, if there was ever a case of intentional pollution and alleged violation of the Clean Water Act, that begged for investigation and intervention by the U.S. Attorney, this is the one.
In a 02/22/2010 Beacon story I pointed out that between 2004 and 2009, the City of San Bruno dumped raw sewage into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean 148 times. You would think that after the 25th, maybe 50th, perhaps the 100th, maybe even the 125th time the City of San Bruno dumped raw sewage into the Bay and Pacific Ocean somebody would have taken the action necessary to put an end to this ecological disaster.
In my opinion, we need to start identifying the individuals responsible for this environmental disaster and hold them personally responsible for their actions or inactions that resulted in this tragic series of events. We need to do this in order to obtain financial recovery for San Bruno's residents; insure that if necessary the appropriate, the proper level of legal punishment is applied and to make sure this type of damage to the environment does not happen again.
It is clear that the intent to pollute was present because it has been reported that there were 148 raw sewage spills over a five year period. In my opinion the people who were being paid to manage San Bruno's waste treatment system, are responsible for creating and exacerbating this ecological nightmare. Now San Bruno's City Council and Manager are planning to pass on the cost of this disaster to San Bruno's residents. Perhaps they will.
However, there is also the possibility that all of the culprits in this eco-disaster will each be personally sued and held personally liable in a taxpayer lawsuit to recover damages resulting from these raw sewage spills. As I see it, an argument can be made that municipal government officials lose their immunity to personal liability when they are grossly negligent and engage in reckless conduct outside the scope of their employment. To the best of my knowledge, I don't think anybody was ever hired by the City of San Bruno to dump raw sewage into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean 148 times. In this case it would appear that we left gross negligence at the second or third spill. After 148 raw sewage spills we may need to develop a new legal term for what in my opinion is this off the charts degree of gross negligence.
These raw sewage spills began in 2004. San Bruno City Manager Jackson, who was appointed as San Bruno's City Manager in 2003, probably knew that San Bruno's sewage treatment system was being overburdened and that raw sewage was being dumped into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean. If she didn't. Then why didn't she know? The San Bruno City employees in San Bruno's Water and Wastewater Divisions must have known that raw sewage was being dumped into the San Francisco Bay. So, once again, why was this allowed to continue for 5 years and where is all of the documentation and paperwork for each and every raw sewage spill? Who knew what, when did they know it and what did they do each time there was a spill?
So far, San Francisco Baykeeper, has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Bruno in an attempt to get the City of San Bruno to undertake aggressive repairs and reduce the sewage spills into the Bay. However, that's not the end of this story because we need to know all the facts about these 148 sewage spills occurred over a five year period.
No discussion about San Bruno's overburdened wastewater treatment system would be complete without discussing the role that redevelopment played in this ecological disaster. According to the City of San Bruno, redevelopment activities have added 1,063 units of multifamily housing to the City's infrastructure. There can be little doubt that, during the past 10 years, this redevelopment activity has added to the burden on the City of San Bruno's sewage system. Developers, contractors and other players in the real estate food chain got rich by dumping all of this housing in San Bruno that has helped overburden the sewage treatment system and create this environmental catastrophe. Since they may have played a role in this problem they also need to start answering some questions.
