Building industry calls for one water cop's job

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer | Saturday, June 9, 2007 11:33 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- In what some were calling a backdoor attempt to scuttle San Diego County's new stormwater pollution law, the local Building Industry Association has petitioned to have one of the county's water cops removed from his position.

Officials from the state attorney general's office said last week that they had received a complaint from the Building Industry Association of San Diego County asking them to remove Eric Anderson from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.

They wouldn't say if the office was taking any action, or even considering the complaint.

The building industry, meanwhile, alleged that Anderson, vice president of a La Costa nursery, violated conflict-of-interest laws five months ago when he "blatantly and narrowly" helped amend the new stormwater permit to benefit nurseries.

Anderson said Friday that he was being counseled not to comment at length, but felt he had done nothing wrong when he proposed the amendment allowing nurseries to let "clean" water, such as rainfall, run into the ground rather than be collected.

"I'm pretty cautious about conflict issues," he said. "I feel pretty confident it wasn't a conflict."

The stormwater permit ---- which the building industry vigorously opposed and unsuccessfully tried to overturn ---- is an attempt to stop stormwater pollution from fouling beaches and waterways.

Stormwater runoff is rain and irrigation water that runs down gutters and storm drains, carrying pesticides, fertilizers, animal fecal matter, oil from cars, sediment and chemicals from construction sites and a host of other pollutants to the sea.

Builders have said for several years that the permits put too much of the cost of stormwater cleanup on them ---- because cities and the county would require expensive measures to control potential pollution at construction sites. They suggested instead that voters be asked to support bonds to pay the costs.

Lawyers for the State Water Resources Control ---- the regional control board's parent agency ---- said they believed Anderson had not violated the law.

But Paul Tryon, chief executive officer for the Building Industry Association, said Anderson broke the public trust.

Tryon said Anderson massaged the stormwater amendment "for the betterment of his industry, and arguably, for his own interest, while knowingly saddling the San Diego public and business community with vast, costly and onerous new set of regulations."

Others, however, said that Anderson was being exploited as a pawn by the building industry, which wants the stormwater regulations eased.

"It seems like this is an attempt to undermine the stormwater permit through a different approach. I don't recall any objections being made at the time," David Beckman of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group which supports tougher anti-pollution laws. "They're seizing on this after the fact to undo the action."

Little attention

Even though the building industry has asserted that Anderson broke the law, the amendment he forwarded drew little attention when he made it Jan. 24, the day the control board unanimously approve the new permit in a six-hour hearing before a packed house.

Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, said the amendment gave nurseries the ability to let "clean" or treated stormwater drain straight into the ground ---- an allowance that the building industry also enjoyed.

But Tryon said Anderson specifically moved for an exception for nurseries ---- removing them from a group that included auto repair and painting shops and traffic corridors ---- on his own, without anyone asking for it. He said the motion benefited Anderson because he owned a nursery, and that Anderson also specifically told building industry officials he wasn't interested in hearing any of their requests for exceptions.

Michael Lauffer, the state Water Resources Board's top lawyer, said Friday that they do not believe Anderson did anything wrong because the permit regulates the county, Port District and cities ---- not individual businesses. He said because of that, Anderson's amendment wasn't a direct benefit to him.

Lauffer said the "logical conclusion" of the building industry's conflict-of-interest allegation is that no one ---- Anderson or anyone else ---- would be able to vote on any stormwater permit because "we all pollute, and therefore all contribute to the problem."

Larson said the building industry was just angry.

"We think it's pretty transparent," he said. "The building industry didn't get what it wanted and now they want to extract their pound of flesh from somebody."

Marco Gonzalez, another prominent local environmental activist, went a step further and agreed with Beckman of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He said the building industry was trying to overturn the stormwater permit by alleging its approval included an illegal act.

"The building industry has spent millions upon millions of dollars every year trying to undermine the state's efforts to clean up local waters," said Gonzalez, co-founder of Encinitas-based Coast Law Group. "This is just another ploy to do the same. I'm not surprised."

Tryon, meanwhile, said the building industry has no idea if the Anderson complaint could overturn, or reopen hearings on, the stormwater permit. But he said the building industry would not be unhappy if it did.

"Are we frustrated?" he asked, "Sure. Does this amount to sour grapes? No."

Anderson meanwhile, said, "I'd welcome any investigation that would clarify and validate the actions I took on the permit.

"I'm pretty confident that things will turn out OK," he said. "I'm pretty cautious about conflict issues. Of course, I think it would be more productive to be working on the stormwater pollution problem and working to get it all cleaned up."

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, email addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.