There'll Be Water Tests (Before and After) And Best Management Practices Re Tonight's (July 3) Alamitos Bay Fireworks, Because...
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(July 3, 2016) -- LBREPORT.com has learned that tonight's (July 3) "Big Bang on the Bay" fireworks display, created and organized annually by John Morris of Boathouse on the Bay with proceeds benefiting local charities, will be preceded and followed by water quality testing and a number of best management practices will be followed designed to protect water quality, paralleling protocols originally developed in connection with San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board proceedings.
Long Beach attorney (and former CA Coastal Commission chair) Mel Nutter tells LBREPORT.com that Mr. Morris and Boathouse on the Bay were willing to do whatever was needed to protect Alamitos Bay water quality after the Coastal Environmental Rights Founation (CERF) raised issues of fireworks fallout on water quality and permits to discharge the chemicals into local waters.
CERF previously pursued litigation in San Diego alleging permit requirements for pollutant discharges from aerial fireworks...and CERF prevailed with the net result/settlement costing San Diego City Hall a sizable sum. [For background, see CA Court of Appeal Oct. 16, 2014 ruling, an unpublished decision meaning it's binding on other cases.]
[Scroll down for further.]
In February 2016, LBREPORT.com learned and reported that CERF (represented by Coast Law Group of Encinitas CA that succeeded in the San Diego litigation) had sent a sternly worded legal notice to Long Beach City Hall and to Boathouse on the Bay alleging an "anticipated future non-permitted discharge of pollutants from firework displays into Alamitos Bay and the Pacific Ocean, in violation of the [federal] Clean Water Act." In its notice, CERF also indicated it was "willing to discuss effective remedies" for the violations its letter had alleged.
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On February 16, 2016, the City Council held a closed session citing anticipated litigation related to CERF's legal notice/claim; after the closed session, LB City Attorney Charles Parkin told LBREPORT.com that no legally reportable action under the Brown Act had occurred; we don't know Long Beach City Hall's current stance on the fireworks fallout issue [although city officials regularly cite a commitment to cleaning up Long Beach area waters.] We also don't know where L.A.'s Regional Water Quality Control Board stands on a potential NPDES Permit for fireworks in general.
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Earlier this year, the issue of fireworks fallout and water quality came up in San Francisco following the Super Bowl. See SFGate.com [SF Chronicle online] coverage (SFGate.com headline: "New permits may be required after Super Bowl show trashed beach")
Asked by LBREPORT.com in February how he'd respond to Long Beach area residents who enjoy the fireworks, attorney Marco Gonzalez of the Coast Law Group replied: "There's nothing more patriotic than clean water."
LBREPORT.com will follow-up with further as we learn it.
