BOEING FILES SUIT REGARDING LAB RULES COMPANY SEEKING TIME FOR COMPLIANCE.Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. -- The Boeing Co. filed suit Monday against the state, claiming it wrongly denied the company a temporary break from tough water pollution rules at its Santa Susana Santa Susana can refer to several places:
Boeing, which owns the field lab, has battled Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and state water officials over rules designed to limit polluted pol·lute tr.v. pol·lut·ed, pol·lut·ing, pol·lutes 1. To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter. See Synonyms at contaminate. 2. water flowing from the hilltop lab into local creeks. The company has argued it needs more time -- perhaps several years -- to comply with the regulations. Earlier this year, the state Water Resources Control Board agreed to temporarily freeze the pollution limits until a hearing next year to determine whether the lab's water permit is too strict. But in response to outrage from the environmental community, a panel of water board members overruled the decision in June and refused Boeing a temporary break. That prompted Boeing to sue, charging the state abused its discretion and left the company open to heavy fines and penalties for violating its permit during the upcoming rainy season. ``If heavy rains came under the current very stringent numeric limits, we'd be in violation,'' said Dan Beck, spokesman for Boeing. Field lab watchdogs criticized Boeing's lawsuit. ``If instead of fighting environmental rulings, Boeing spent a fraction of the money complying and controlling its pollution, we'd all be far better off,'' said Dan Hirsh, with the Committee to Bridge the Gap. State Water Resources Control Board spokesman William Rukeyser said he expects a court to uphold the board's decision. At issue is Boeing's permit regulating storm and industrial water running off the hilltop lab into neighboring creeks that eventually drain into the Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles (82 km) southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. and Arroyo Simi SIMI Sea Ice Mechanics Initiative SIMI Search for Intelligent Monkeys on the Internet SIMI Students Islamic Movement in India SIMI Society of Irish Motor Industry SIMI Smallholder Irrigation Markets Initiative . Used for rocket engine testing and nuclear research since the 1940s, the lab has extensive contamination in the soil and groundwater, prompting concern that heavy metal and chemicals could move off site in surface water. In 2004, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted a tough new regulation that set strict limits on pollutants pollutants see environmental pollution. flowing downhill. Between July 2004 and November 2005, the lab received 71 violations for higher-than-allowed levels of mercury, dioxins and other contaminants. kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 |
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