Pubdate: Thu, 23 Oct 2014
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Column: The Week in Weed
Copyright: 2014 North Coast Journal
Contact:  http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth

A BIG STICK

With law enforcement raids and private paramilitary security agencies 
running through Humboldt's hills enough to strike fear in the hearts 
of marijuana growers, one of California's previously benign 
regulatory agencies will soon attempt to make a splash in the marijuana world.

The State Water Resources Control Board is due to begin an aggressive 
civil enforcement campaign against marijuana growers who are 
affecting water quality in Northern California.

Cris Carrigan, director of the state water board's Office of 
Enforcement, will lead the pilot program, which should begin at the 
turn of 2015.

Carrigan spoke before the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on 
Oct. 15, explaining that he concocted an effort intended to hold 
marijuana growers to the same standards that any other 
water-utilizing and landscape-altering industry must adhere to.

It's a water-specific aspiration. The water board is not authorized, 
nor is it interested in determining whether grows are legal under 
California's medical marijuana law, Carrigan said. Previously, there 
was difficulty in applying state water laws to circumstances out of 
compliance with federal law (such as marijuana grows), but "decided 
it's not an authorization of illegal activity under federal law," he 
said. "Basically the political will has finally gotten here."

There are no new laws on the books - the effort is underway because 
of additional funding Gov. Jerry Brown awarded to the state water 
board in this year's budget - but Carrigan thinks the civil 
penalties, which include fines and injunctive relief, will help 
repair waterways that support salmon and other impacted wildlife.

The state water board employees under his command will look for 
illegal grading, dumping, pesticide and fertilizer use, land 
clearing, timber harvesting, construction and sedimentation that 
impact the North Coast's watersheds, and demand that the owners and 
operators of marijuana grows take action to repair damage.

The effort will focus on counties north of Sacramento. The state 
water board is coordinating with agencies - Fish and Wildlife, DA's 
offices, sheriff's offices, county code enforcers and others - to 
determine what areas need focus and how the agencies can work 
together to accomplish their goals.

"Instead of reacting to complaints, we want to look at watersheds 
where there's a water supply issue or a water quality issue being 
created by cannabis cultivation ... and then react to that," Carrigan 
told supervisors. "If we see that streams are drying up that are 
salmon habitat ... and we see that there's a massive amount of 
grading in that watershed, that's where we'll go."

The effort will focus on private land grows. Trespass grows on public 
land are always illegal, Carrigan said, and require criminal 
enforcement. But, under existing state laws, the water board has a 
powerful tool to hold the owners and operators of marijuana grow 
sites responsible for environmental damage.

The water board is developing a voluntary enrollment plan for 
marijuana growers who wish to be in compliance. "Enroll in the 
program, and ... you have a limited defense to water code and water 
violations if you comply with the program," Carrigan said. That means 
acquiring proper permits for grading, streambed crossings, storm 
water and erosion control, a site management plan for chemicals and a 
demonstrated water right.

Carrigan hopes that the enrollment program will bring in enough money 
to pay for the enforcement of "bad actors" who are unwilling to try 
to come into compliance. But at this point - based on a self-reported 
estimate - the water board figures about 10 percent of the potential 
regulated public would be willing to enroll in the next two years. In 
any other industry, Carrigan said, the state would expect 80 to 90 
percent voluntary enrollment.

But growers discovered to be out of compliance could face civil 
penalties of $10,000 a day, assessed from the date that a cleanup 
order goes out. The state's cleanup and abatement laws also provide 
for situations when a grow operator might skedaddle out of the state 
or country to avoid criminal or civil penalties.

"Under water code section 13304, if you own a dirty property that 
contains a condition of pollution or nuisance, you're strictly liable 
to clean it up," Carrigan said. "If you can't afford to do that, we 
can go in and do it ourselves and put a lien on the property."

There are situations, he said, where landowners have such vast 
properties that they could reasonably be victims of trespass grows.

"There are some really large ranches. ... But those are the rare 
cases," Carrigan said. "In almost every case the rent's high enough, 
there's an option contract - there are market-based indications that 
the landowner is profiting from the cannabis cultivation. Could you 
prove that criminally, beyond a reasonable doubt? Maybe not. But 
could you say look there's a mess on your property and you've got to 
clean it up? ... Absolutely."

Carrigan anticipates a five-week cycle for tackling problem 
watersheds. Week one: Prioritize an area. Week two: Sheriff's 
deputies ensure access to a site, whether it's through consent of the 
landowner or a search warrant. Week three: Field personnel visit the 
site. Week four: Staff assembles the case. Week five: Lawyers huddle 
and decide who's going to take the case. Repeat.

There's a vast array of criminal and civil codes that growers must 
comply with, Carrigan said, and it's certainly possible that these 
site visits could result in penalties from any of the agencies that 
will be involved. But his primary focus, the stand behind the plan, 
is to tackle watersheds where marijuana cultivation is harming rivers 
and streams.

"What we're concerned about is not the activity of cultivating 
cannabis but the discharge of waste to the waterways of this state," 
he said. "We'll deal with that in the way we best know how, without 
interfering with local control over the way they deal with what's going on."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom