In 1998, three gasoline underground storage tanks (“USTs”) and one waste oil UST, located at a gas station and auto body shop in LA, were found to have corroded and leaked. This began a 24-year process of ongoing environmental investigatory and remediation work, per multiple Orders from the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Regional Board”). Despite having spent well over $1 million towards the environmental cleanup, the property owner was unable to convince the Regional Board to close the Site because of an inability to meet the standard closure criteria. The property owner was facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in further cleanup costs for the next several years. Gordon & Rees environmental attorney Brian M. Ledger was then hired to assist the property owner.
The primary obstacle towards satisfying the closure criteria was that the Site is within the Salt Lake Oil Field in Los Angeles, which includes the La Brea Tar Pits. Recognizing that achieving the standard closure criteria would likely be impossible because of the widespread presence of naturally occurring crude oil, which was intermingled with the gasoline remaining in the subsurface, Mr. Ledger worked with an environmental consultant to develop a Closure Plan to submit to the Regional Board based on California’s Low-Threat Closure policy (“LTCP”). The LTCP is a relatively new law in California intended to address sites with challenging features that make achievement of standard closure criteria extremely difficult, if not impossible. The LTCP thus provides an avenue for closure for challenging sites, as long as it can be shown that remaining petroleum impacts at the site pose a low threat to the surrounding environment and human health.
Following submission of the initial Closure Plan to the Regional Board and multiple meetings, the Regional Board denied the request for closure, and reiterated its Order requiring further cleanup. Mr. Ledger then filed a Petition to the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Board”) requesting it reverse the Regional Board’s denial, which was followed by several meetings to discuss the rationale and data.
In a rare rebuke, the State Board recently released its decision granting the Petition by flatly rejecting the Regional Board’s reasoning for requiring further investigation and remediation. The State Board accepted the scientific rationale explained in the Petition, and found that the LTCP criteria had been met and the remaining petroleum impacts at the site do not pose a significant risk to the environment or human health.
The firm's property-owner client can now end its 24-year ordeal with the Regional Board and put the property to more productive use.