Pubdate: Thu, 08 Aug 2013
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: Roger H. Aylworth

BUTTE REQUEST LEADS TO STATE TASK FORCE ON POT GARDEN POLLUTION

SACRAMENTO - What began as a Butte County request that state water 
regulators take part in fighting pollution generated by marijuana 
growers, has resulted in the creation of a task force to formulate 
statewide policy on the issue.

Today Butte County officials, representatives of Gov. Jerry Brown's 
office, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, and 
the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, gathered in a meeting 
orchestrated by Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Loma Rica, to discuss ways 
to avoid what he called a potential environmental "catastrophe."

This meeting, and a similar one conducted Tuesday in Oroville under 
the direction of state Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, were prompted by 
an exchange of letters between the Butte County Board of Supervisors 
and an executive in the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Oroville Supervisor Bill Connelly, who chairs the board, sent a 
letter to the water quality panel, asking that their staff take a 
role in fighting the problems of pollution related to some marijuana gardens.

In response to that letter, Pamela C. Creedon, executive officer of 
the regional water board, agreed there is a serious water pollution 
problem related to the marijuana gardens, but she was unwilling to 
send her staff into the potential danger involved in entering a garden.

In a telephone interview after Wednesday's meeting, Logue said the 
participants agreed something has to be done about the pollution threat.

He said the parties agreed to create a task force aimed at producing 
a policy that could be applied statewide on how to attack the water 
pollution threat.

Connelly, who attended the Sacramento meeting, said, "We are looking 
for some way to give the Water Resources Board staff a degree of 
protection or implied security that will allow them to assist us 
directly and indirectly with the prosecution of environmental crimes. 
These crimes will include pollution of waterways, and degradation of 
water ways through the release of soil."

Logue said fertilizers, pesticides, poisons used to keep animals out 
of the marijuana gardens, and even eroding soil are all being washed 
into Lake Oroville.

He said that makes it a statewide concern because pollution that goes 
into Lake Oroville eventually turns up in the water coming out of 
Southern California's taps.

"This is not a Prop. 215 issue, it is an environmental issue," said Logue.

Proposition 215 is the measure that was passed in 1996 that allows 
for the cultivation and possession of medical cannabis.

Clint Snyder, the assistant chief executive for the Central Valley 
Water Board, said in a telephone interview that a statewide strategy 
is necessary. He said that environmental damage has been and is being 
done in Butte County but it is happening in the rest of the state as well.

Among other things Logue envisions the various counties sending 
warning letters to landowners who have offending marijuana gardens on 
their property.

The letters would inform the owner "there is a environmental issue on 
your property" and if the problem isn't mitigated the property owner 
could face costly civil penalties.

Logue and Snyder said the task force will need to look into what 
needs to be done and what resources the various counties can bring to 
bare on the problem.

While task forces can sometimes be glacial in their progress on a 
specific issue, Loge said, "We are not going to let grass grow under out feet.

He also said that state Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Darrell 
Steinberg, D- Sacramento, has already told Logue he is willing to 
look into legislation to move the solution along.

"We are going to move forward, and try to resolve these issues," said Connelly.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom