The San Diego County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted unanimously to pursue legal action against corporations the plaintiffs claim are responsible for the Tijuana River Valley sewage pollution crisis.
Supervisors voted on the measure, proposed by Terra Lawson-Remer and Nora Vargas, after hearing a staff presentation on county efforts to help residents affected by pollution.
According to a statement from Lawson-Remer's office, county legal counsel every 90 days "must present the board of supervisors updates and available opportunities to pursue lawsuits against any potentially responsible parties for damages caused to the Tijuana River Valley, Estuary and Marine Preserve, and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Toxic Tide at the Border
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"According to the policy, options should include, but are not limited to the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act," Lawson-Remer's office said.
Last week, Lawson-Remer joined a group of residents from Imperial Beach who have sued Veolia Water Operating Services and Veolia Water North America-West— entities who operate the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant.
"The Tijuana River sewage crisis is a critical regional issue and an environmental crisis for our entire county," said Lawson-Remer while speaking with the plaintiffs. "The coastal communities I represent are heavily impacted."
The move is not without precedent, as the county successfully sued opioid manufacturers to the tune of more than $100 million, and is in the process of suing a ghost gun company.
Veolia, a French concern, was also involved in the Flint, Michigan, water crisis and has been in litigation for other public health crises in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Colombia.
In a statement, Veolia described the allegations as "meritless," and said the majority of sewage and associated odors and pollution come from Tijuana and do not enter the wastewater treatment plant.
During public comment on Tuesday, a Veolia official told the board it was unfair to blame his company for the sewage crisis.
"No one can properly operate a wastewater treatment plant when the flood breaks pumps, breaks equipment, fills up the tanks," said Adam Lisberg, a senior vice president for external communications. "Attacking our company is a distraction from the real root causes that we've all heard about here."
A plant manager urged supervisors to visit the facility.
"Please come check out what we do," he said. "We've been at this for years."
A woman who identified herself as a county employee said it was not surprising that the crisis had "hit unserved areas, making the county response more critical."
"The louder the squeaky wheel, the more oil it will receive," she said, adding that polluters must be held accountable.
"It is not just a federal job — it is the county that needs to be louder," she said.
Vargas, board chairwoman, said the county has been working to end the pollution crisis, and added that Mexico is also doing its part in terms of improving the plant in Baja California.
"This is not something that we're taking lightly," Vargas said.
Lawson-Remer, board vice chair, said Tuesday that border sewage problem is also a regional issue; including in North County cities like Carlsbad.
According to Lawson-Remer, in 2017, the county was "preparing to pursue legal action over the wastewater violations now being outlined by the residents of Imperial Beach, but the previous board of supervisors opted for inaction instead."
"It is a new day in San Diego County," Lawson-Remer said. "The weight of the county government joining together with our residents will help to drive accountability and action by the entities who are violating people's right to clean air, water and beaches."
The San Diego City Council recently approved a resolution asking for a national emergency regarding the sewage outflow at the border. The council had approved 31 years of consecutive extensions of a local state of emergency on the situation.
The council first declared a state of emergency because of the pollution — ranging from raw sewage to industrial runoff — in 1993. Imperial Beach put out a similar declaration in 2017, followed by the county in 2023.
Since October 2018, the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission has catalogued more than 200 billion gallons of toxic waste coming into the United States through the Tijuana River Valley.
According to a city document on Tuesday's resolution, the commission has spent just $4 million of $40 million allocated for infrastructure maintenance at the broken South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant.
