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Santa Clarita City Council members and the Board of Directors for the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District are discussing the deep well injection site at their meetings this week.

Sanitation District To Find New Site For Deep Well

Sanitation District officials plan to find a new site for a deep well injection plan to remove chloride from the Santa Clara River, officials said Monday.


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The Sanitation District found itself in a maelstrom last week from Westside residents upset over an 11th hour change to the county’s chloride plan, despite years of meetings and outreach.

A message from Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Laurene Weste, who also sits on the Sanitation District board, stated she agreed with a call by county Supervisor Michael Antonovich, calling for the evaluation of other locations.

“Given the strong concerns expressed by the community regarding the proposed deep well injection location for the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District’s State-mandated chloride compliance project, I agree with Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich’s direction to staff to evaluate other locations for the deep well injection component of the project. I encourage District’s staff to investigate alternative locations as expeditiously as possible to meet the strict regulatory schedule for the State-mandated chloride compliance project because, otherwise, all property owners will face steep fines associated with failure to meet the federal and state deadlines. Hopefully, we can satisfy community concerns as well as meet the strict deadlines.”

The next step for the district’s Governing Board would be to authorize a search for a new site, officials said. A discussion regarding this action is expected to take place at the next meeting.

“Two of our directors have issued statements that we need to look for new locations,” said Phil Friess of the Sanitation District, referring to statements from Weste and Antonovich.

Sanitation District officials, including Weste and Santa Clarita Mayor Marsha McLean, who sits on the governing board along with Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, also have moved the next three months’ of district meetings from Whittier to Santa Clarita, McLean said last week.

The district also recently extended the comment period for the deep well injection plan from Tuesday to March 23.

Dozens of residents asked the two Santa Clarita City Council members who sit on the Sanitation District governing board for more time on the chloride plan at last Tuesday’s meeting.

The plan was approved almost 18 months ago, but a recent change — moving the site 800 feet north for a 3-mile deep well to store brine taken out of the Santa Clara River water sent downstream to Ventura County — angered many of the Santa Clarita Valley’s Westside residents, who felt they weren’t given enough notice.

A third public hearing on the environmental report for the well project was added to the outreach effort in response to a public outcry.

The meeting is set to take place Monday, March 9, at the Santa Clarita Activities Center, 20880 Centre Pointe Parkway. The hearing will begin at 7:00 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

From a previous story:

Related: Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District Adds Chloride Meeting

The district, which has been tasked by the state with creating a chloride-removal project to lower the amount of chloride, or salt, sent downstream to Ventura County, released a report on a plan to drill wells and place excess brine in the wells.

Based on the recommendations of staff, the Sanitation District governing board approved deep-well injection, which cost $130 million, and is expected to gradually raise rates and connection fees.

The most recent concern is over the location of the wells, which were moved 800 feet north in response to a conservation easement on the original site.

Area homeowners and business owners joined a chorus of voices decrying the new site as practically on the 16th hole of the Valencia TPC golf course.

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Laurene Weste wanted the extension to get information out there, but had concerns because “we’re very late in the process.”

The federal government, through the EPA, and the state, through the Regional Water Quality Control Board, have oversight on the project, Weste said, and the latter agency has threatened fines that could reach into the millions if the board fails to act on the chloride-compliance concerns.

She also was concerned about some of the information that’s being circulated with respect to the proposal, she said.

“It’s a lot to understand but basically to put it in simple terms, we’re taking the already clean water that goes into the (Santa Clara) River and refining the salt out of it, and that salty brine would go into a pipeline down 9,000 or 13,000 feet, so it can’t reach any of the water we drink,” she said, explaining the project and refuting claims there would be any “sewage” or any other illegal dumping.

In a statement by district officials, SCVSD staffers also addressed concerns the well project involved “fracking,” noting there is no fracking involved.

“The newly proposed site for injection of this non-hazardous salty water produced by the required advanced treatment is the only feasible location that can accommodate the project given the constraints of federal and state laws,” said Steve Highter, spokesman for the Sanitation District, in an email. “The deep well injection site was selected after geological and technical review.”

Sanitation District engineers plan to construct a test well by next year — assuming the project is approved and underway by then — which will enable them to better assess the long-term viability of such a project, according to Highter in a previous email.

“We’ve worked very strongly to meet the criteria for the river water and to make sure what’s going into the ground is safe,” Weste said.

The Sanitation District is able to approve, delay or deny projects but, ultimately, the ratepayers in the Sanitation District could face fines if there’s inaction, she said.

“It’s the homeowners who pay the fines,” Weste said, adding the district is trying to satisfy state and federal demands in the most cost effective way possible, “and we need to comply.”

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

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Sanitation District To Find New Site For Deep Well

2 comments

  1. The mayor should put it in HER neighborhood.

  2. Laurene keeps harping about fines. Laurene, get a clue.

    If the Sanitation District had filed a Chapter 9 public agency bankruptcy 2 years ago, there would be no fines. EVER. The Regional Water Quality Control Board STILL could be pounded into the dust using the Bankruptcy Court’s powers, just like the Cities of Detroit and Stockton have done. Just like Orange County did. For example, in both the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies, and in the Detroit bankruptcy, the court totally stopped and permanently ended EPA’s and various states’ attempts to enforce their environmental laws against those companies and city. LA has an office of Jones Day, the incredibly brilliant bankruptcy law firm which successfully represented both Chrysler and the City of Detroit. You, Marsha and Mike should hire them to advise the Sanitation District on how to protect the taxpayers from these fines you keep carping about, using a Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

    In the Detroit bankruptcy, that law firm maneuvered successfully to allow Detroit’s Art Museum to stay open, and not sell even one piece of its $3 Billion worth of art owned by the City of Detroit to pay its creditors, while at the same time stiffing a boat load of creditors, including the retired city employees. Jones Day’s bankruptcy department is only a phone call away. Their legal fees to butcher the Regional Water Quality Control Board will be far, far less than the $130+ Million you want the Santa Clarita Valley’s taxpayers to waste on this Chloride Scam.

    Laurene if you are too unsophisticated to understand how a business bankruptcy (Chapter 11) or a public agency bankruptcy (Chapter 9) works, you can always call my mother. She can explain it to you in terms a simple grocery store owner can understand. In case you forgot, she worked on the Orange County bankruptcy, and no she doesn’t work for Jones Day and neither do I.

    Laurene, if the Sanitation District and its lawyer had not intentionally screwed up the Sanitation District’s claim for the $130 Million to the State Allocation Board, there would be no fines. EVER.

    Laurene, do you know if the Sanitation District and its lawyer have now intentionally screwed up the District’s lawsuit against the State of California for the $130 Million under the “Sanitation Districts don’t have to pay for state agencies mandate” in the California Constitution? If you and your bosses, the Sanitation District senior staff and lawyers, don’t screw up that lawsuit, there will be no fines. EVER.

    Laurene, the vast majority of Santa Clarita Valley’s taxpayers expect you to be smart in protecting their economic interests, not shoveling out $130+ Million in the taxpayer dollars for the benefit of your current campaign supporters and friends.

    Your former friends ARE keeping track of when you outright lie about details about the brine injection project, as you have again in the article above, where you misstate, by several thousand feet, the elevation below ground where the brine was to be injected under the EIR you, Marsha & Mike have most recently been considering, for the relocated injection well site.

    Do you get it Laurene? You are wrong now and you have been for the last 3+ years.

    Apparently you cannot admit when you are wrong. Apparently you cannot admit that you do not understand sophisticated legal issues and even more sophisticated legal tactics to solve them. Apparently you cannot admit that you have been mislead by the Sanitation District juggernaut of “we know best”. Apparently you cannot admit that you have not explored legal options beyond what the egotistical Sanitation District lawyer wants to do. Apparently you have not been working in a smart way for the good of Santa Clarita’s taxpayers. Apparently you have only listened to your money grubbing friends. Laurene, your making the stubborn comments like the ones in the article above just prove these points.

    Sadly, given your comments to the reporter, above, you’ve proved you are hopeless and can’t see the awful person who you’ve become and what harm you will cause the residents and taxpayers of the Santa Clarita Valley.

    Need I rub it in Laurene? You are as bad as a buck.

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.