SAN BERNARDINO — Fueling accusations that Inland Empire officials are thwarting an environmental cleanup, a state senator Friday asked the attorney general to investigate a decision to cancel plans to treat chemical pollution infiltrating local water supplies.
In a letter to Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, state Sen. Nell Soto (D-Ontario) criticized the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board for rescinding an order demanding that two companies linked to a pollutant in Rialto clean it up.
Worse, Soto wrote, the decision to throw out that order was made behind closed doors.
Critics are demanding a probe of whether the board violated California's open-meeting law. And they want the cleanup order reinstated immediately.
Board officials conceded in interviews Friday that they did not have to make the decision in secret, though they contend they were legally allowed to do so.
The attorney general's office confirmed it had received the request to investigate but had not yet prepared a response late Friday.
Soto's demand for a probe follows allegations that San Bernardino County officials are shirking their responsibility to provide clean water--and hiding extensive knowledge of the pollution plume.
Earlier this month, members of a local pollution task force said a plume of perchlorate in northern Rialto has infiltrated so many wells that it could threaten the local water supply.
Barry Groveman, chairman of the Inland Empire Perchlorate Task Force, accused San Bernardino County of exacerbating the problem by burying a polluted site while expanding a landfill. The county denies blame for the pollution.
Then, last week, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center acknowledged that perchlorate, a compound used to make rocket fuel and munitions, had contaminated its well. Hospital officials said they had known of the contamination for at least two weeks but had not told the public or county officials because they were waiting to conduct more tests.
Arrowhead has since begun taking water from a clean line provided by the city of Colton, said Eric Fraser, Colton's director of water and wastewater.
Soto's letter to the attorney general says investigators have shown that numerous government agencies have known about the pollution for at least five years.
In the process, Groveman said, the agencies are disregarding the interests of the public.
