City Council to hold special closed session
CITY HALL — After more than three years of litigation, a massive lawsuit over the quality of Santa Monica’s drinking water is expected to be resolved today.
The City Council is scheduled to meet this morning to review the terms of a settlement agreement that reportedly calls for more than a dozen oil companies to pay City Hall hundreds of millions of dollars for allowing a toxic chemical to seep into the local groundwater.
Craig Perkins, City Hall’s director of environmental and public works management, wouldn’t discuss the details of the settlement, but is confident it will be approved.
“I would love to tell you (about the deal),” he said. “We’re obviously fairly confident since we’ve talked to them about the agreement, that the final vote will be for approval.”
City Hall’s lawsuit was levied against 18 oil companies and manufacturers in 2000. The suit alleges the oil outfits are responsible for allowing MTBE, a gasoline additive, to leak into the ground-water in 1996, subsequently forcing the closure of seven of Santa Monica’s 11 drinking water wells.
A press conference at the Arcadia Well Fields in Los Angeles, owned by City Hall, is scheduled for later this morning, at which time officials are expected to explain the details of the settlement.
Council members declined comment on Thursday.
“I’m sworn to silence,” City Councilman Herb Katz said. “We all are. We can’t talk about it.”
“I’m sworn to silence. We all are. We can’t talk about it.” — — HERB KATZ Santa Monica City Councilman
As the specifics were being hammered out last month, Perkins said the oil companies had agreed to pay whatever it costs to filter water at the wells until they are completely clean. It’s a process that, at worst, will take 35 years and cost approximately $400 million, officials said.
The only sticking point in the agreement last month was how much additional money City Hall should receive in damages for being inconvenienced, as well as for the health risks posed to residents by the contamination. That information is expected to be made public today.
Since levying the suit in 2000, City Hall has negotiated more than $18 million in separate settlements. The City Council earlier last month accepted $4.5 million from oil giant Ultramar Ltd., and earlier this summer, Atlantic Richfield Co. paid City Hall $9.75 million. Conoco Inc. settled for more than $4.5 million in the spring of 2002.
City Attorney Marsha Moutrie has called it the biggest lawsuit levied by City Hall during her 10 years at the helm. Deputy City Attorney Joe Lawrence, who has handled the lawsuit, calls it a veritable who’s who of the oil business. Council members further emphasize the importance of the case, noting that it’s breaking ground for cities around the country involved in similar suits.
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2004, it will be illegal to use Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether in gasoline throughout California. The colorless chemical compound that, at very low concentrations, smells like turpentine and is a suspected carcinogen was originally introduced as a way to boost octane and help meet clean-fuel requirements, but was later discovered to be harmful to drinking water.
Leakage from underground gas storage tanks was responsible for the closing of all five wells at the city’s Charnock Well Field in Mar Vista and both wells at Arcadia Well Fields in West LA. A treatment facility has since been built at Arcadia and the wells now appear to be clean. A pilot testing facility is currently being worked on at the Charnock Field to determine what design will be most effective at that site.
Because seven of Santa Monica’s 11 wells had to be immediately shut down in 1996, the oil companies are paying millions of dollars a year to import about 80 percent of the 12-plus million gallons of water Santa Monica uses daily. Perkins said Santa Monica will probably start using treated water from the Charnock fields again in 2007 or 2008.
Perkins said he is anxious to have the settlement nailed down so cleanup can continue.
“This settlement will be a very important first step,” Perkins said. “No matter what happens with the settlement agreement, what’s important is how long it takes to clean up the water and restore it to the city’s customers.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 21, 2003. Read the original PDF.