STOPPP's Pollution Control Efforts and Eco-terrorism

October 1, 2001

Ms. Loretta Barsamian
Executive Officer
1515 Clay St., Suite 1400
Oakland,  California 94612

Subject: STOPPP's Pollution Control Efforts and Eco-terrorism

Dear Ms. Baramian:

On September 11, 2001 the Bay Area lost one of it's finest environmental protection soldiers. Alan Beaven, former Chief Clean Water Act Legal Counsel for our non-profit Half Moon Bay Coastside Foundation aka Save Our Bay died on the terrorist hi-jacked United Airline Flight 93 bound for  San Francisco.  Alan's fearless passion was the protection of the Bay Area's drinking water, its quality and  the watershed's natural systems. He was instrumental in the formation of the SOB Foundation's EnviroBank and the Watershed Quality Protection Partnership MOU.  Alan's last endeavor  on behalf of the WQPP  was to bring the new owners of  an illegal landfill into full compliance.  This open space landfill has no NPDES Stormwater Permit, as required by the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec.1311(a)  and has the potential to pollute, if it is not already doing so, the steel head stream Arroyo Leon, it's adjoining wetlands and coastal waters.  Unfortunately, Alan did not live to see the fulfillment of his efforts. On behalf of the WQPP and as a tenured guest on the San Mateo Countywide STOPPP TAC,  I am requesting your support and that of  the State RWQCB staff members Susan Gladstone, Habte Kifle and Ann Crum,  in fulfilling Alan's quest for the owners of the unlicensed landfill, Peninsula Open Space Trust - to come into full compliance.

This past week, our WQPP Executive Director, Oscar Braun provided an extensive briefing to the FBI Terrorism Task  Force outlining risk assessment for the SFPUC and Peninsula watershed unsecured areas and suspected eco-terrorist activities in San Mateo County.  San Mateo County harbors many  organizations that have gone to extreme measures to prevent the sustainability of SF Peninsula communities dependent on the Hetch Hetchy regional water system. These  organizations have lobbied for decades that the  Peninsula coastal zone, which comprises 75%  of  Peninsula watershed, should only be provided substandard levels of law enforcement, fire protection, water , sewer, emergency access roads and other  infrastructure elements required to sustain  watershed  dependent communities and their natural systems. The Natural Resource  Defense Council 1999 & 2000 report has identified San Mateo County as containing  the most polluted waters in the Bay Area,  posing  the highest level of risk to the publics health and safety.  Decades of a anti-infrastructure policies has virtually killed the SF Peninsula's urban watershed.  

The Bay Area's drinking water  supply is at greater risk now more than ever: From disruptions and shortages in the event of a Peninsula  watershed wildland area firestorm, drought or  arson/chemical/biological terrorist attack.  All Bay Area community elected officials  should take immediate steps to reduce the risk of  a  catastrophic outage for more than 2.5 million regional water system users.  Now is the time to increase our efforts to protect California's future by joining a  new Watershed Quality Protection Partnership (MOU) and implementing it's goals.

I have enclosed the some of Alan Beaven's case documents regarding his illegal landfill compliance efforts,  EnviroBank WQPP program information and some background material on anti-community activities for your files.

Sincerely,

John Plock, RCE 26066
Chair, Environmental Review Director

CC. Honorable San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Anna Eshoo, Byron Sher, Joe Simitian, Louis J. Papan,
  Dianne Feinstein John Burton, Willy Brown, James Asche, Steven Wert, Joe Naras, Arthur Jensen
 

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