It was the moment everyone was waiting for.
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On April 18, that finally changed. The Water Board held a hearing on the five watersheds but limited the scope to a portion of one of the several actions recommended by its staff. The hearing was to determine whether or not "reports of waste discharge" would be required of Pacific Lumber (PL).
Requiring reports of waste discharge would have been a tiny step forward, but even this was too much for the Water Board. After a 24-hour long hearing that lasted two days and ended at midnight, the Water Board never even brought the matter up for a vote.
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PL controls the vast majority of the land in all five watersheds. As in its other holdings, the rate of logging doubled and tripled when Maxxam completed its hostile takeover of the company in the mid-1980's. By 1997, PL had clearcut and burned huge portions of all five of the watersheds, logging up to 70% of the total area within ten years.
In August 2000, the staff of the Water Board documented how, from 1987 to 1997, PL drastically increased the rate of logging as compared to the amount logged between 1974 and 1987. Logging increased in Freshwater Creek by 466%, in Jordan Creek by 543%, and in the North Fork of the Elk River by 760%.
The staff also documented that, when hillsides were stripped bare, dramatic damage to water quality followed. Between 1994 and 1997, sediment delivery increased by 1,161% in Stitz Creek and 1,365% in Bear Creek. The Water Board staff believes logging operations are responsible for 95% of this sediment.
Not surprisingly, residents in Freshwater Creek and Elk River began experiencing serious problems. Rain events common to the North Coast now cause flooding comparable to the great floods of 1955 and 1964. Domestic water sources in Elk River have been completely destroyed, and in 1997, the Water Board forced PL to start trucking water in to the residents.
Bear, Jordan, and Stitz Creeks all flow into the Eel River near Scotia, and suffered just as badly. Huge landslides ripped through these watersheds, which did not have human residents living downstream, but provided critical habitat for steelhead, chinook and coho salmon. This habitat was "essentially erased" in the words of the Department of Fish and Game.
And More Damage
At first CDF said they would not approve additional logging in the five watersheds until PL took actions requested by the Water Board, Department of Fish and Game, and other agencies. When PL refused to comply, however, it didn't take long for CDF to resume pounding their rubber stamp. Since 1999, they have approved logging of thousands of acres in four of the five watersheds. PL is now exceeding the logging rates that led to the severe problems in the 1990's.
In less than three years, CDF has approved almost 2,000 acres of logging in Freshwater Creek. In Jordan Creek, they've approved 800 acres, which is 25% of the entire watershed. In Bear Creek, more than 900 acres have been approved for logging, or about 20% of the total watershed.
CDF has not yet approved additional logging in Elk River, but that is soon to change. The agency has indicated they are preparing to "open the flood gate" in the watershed and begin approving the 16 logging plans that are now pending for the area. These plans total over 3,500 acres, and approximately 14 miles of new roads are also planned for construction.
The Waiver
Logging industries are currently exempted from requirements of the state clean water act under a blanket waiver the Water Board granted in the 1980's. Such a waiver can only be given, however, when it is not against the public interest. With salmon habitat buried and people flooded out of their homes on a regular basis, it is clear that this waiver is squarely against the public interest.
Citizen groups and residents began calling on the Water Board more than three years ago to terminate this waiver of "waste discharge requirements." When the staff of the Water Board issued the report mentioned above, they recommended several actions, including issuing waste discharge requirements to PL.
Formal hearings were scheduled on the Staff Report, but the chair of the Board at the time, a founding partner in a law firm that represents PL, delayed the hearing several times. Then last year, on his law firm's letterhead, he arbitrarily vacated the hearings altogether.
The Solution
CDF has been the sole agency permitting logging operations, a job at which they have failed miserably. The Water Board, charged with protecting water quality of the North Coast, has the ability and the duty to step in and do something about this situation.
Waste discharge requirements are the primary tool provided to the Water Board to protect and restore water quality. The Water Board could use this tool to require measures above and beyond those required by CDF, effectively eliminating the carte blanche authority CDF now enjoys.
While the politically appointed Water Board has been hesitant to take necessary actions, its staff continues to make strong recommendations during the review of specific logging operations. CDF routinely ignores these recommendations, however, no matter how large or small one may be. By ending the waiver, waste discharge requirements could be utilized by the Water Board to override CDF and ensure that measures to protect water quality are implemented.
CDF has proven they are either incapable or unwilling to protect salmon habitat, water supplies and other public resources that rely on clean water. It is time for the Water Board to step up to the plate and fulfill its mandate to protect and restore our watersheds. This step can only be taken if they end this harmful and illegal waiver of the state clean water act.