WATER BOARD OVERTURNS BOEING RULING STATE VOTES 3-1 AGAINST POLLUTION EXEMPTION.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer

In a move hailed by environmentalists and west San Fernando Valley activists, state water officials Wednesday overturned a controversial decision that had given the Santa Susana Field Lab a break from complying with tough water-pollution rules.

The ruling was a blow to the lab owner, Boeing Co., which has racked up water violations in recent years and hoped for a break from more citations that could hurt the company's reputation and its defense in citizen lawsuits and an ongoing grand jury investigation.

The company had asked the state to temporarily freeze the pollution limits until another hearing later this year or early next year to determine whether the lab's water permit is too strict.

But the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento was not swayed and voted 3-1 to deny the temporary protection for Boeing. The vote overrules an April decision by member Jerry Secundy, who also supported the Boeing request Wednesday.

``This was a great victory for the public and a complete defeat for Boeing,'' said lab watchdog Dan Hirsch with the Committee to Bridge the Gap. ``It overturned what could have been a horrendous precedent asserting that pollution laws hurt the polluter ... and therefore there should be no pollution limits.''

Boeing spokesman Dan Beck said the company was disappointed with the board's decision and now wants it to consider whether the water permit is too tough before the fall.

``We don't want to be out of compliance as the next rainy season comes through,'' he said.

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 and Arroyo Simi.

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 flowing downhill.

Between July 2004 and November 2005, the lab received 71 violations for higher-than-allowed levels of mercury, dioxins and other contaminants.

Boeing asked the L.A. board to relax the permit for four years while the company developed a plan to prevent pollution from moving off site.

The company has said the violations are random, sporadic and likely the result of wildfires and naturally occurring levels of metals.

``Surface water discharge from the site is really no different from other undeveloped, open-space areas,'' Boeing attorney Sharon Rubalcava told state water officials Wednesday.

However, local water regulators have said the tainted water flows through backyards and play areas of the rapidly developing west San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley.

In response, a Los Angeles grand jury began investigating the lab's water pollution violations. The Ventura County District Attorney's Office has also looked at possible prosecution for water violations, although that investigation is on hold until the state water board decides whether to uphold or change the Boeing permit, said Gregory Brose, with the district attorney's Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit.

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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