Selenium Discharges from Lehigh to Permanente Creek

1. Selenium Discharges from Lehigh to Permanente Creek Alice Kaufman, Legislative Advocate Committee for Green Foothills alice@greenfoothills.org

2. Selenium Impacts to Aquatic Organisms • Known to affect fish, amphibians, birds that prey on them • Reproductive toxicity – eggs fail to hatch or young fail to develop, birth defects • Bioaccumulative (builds up in organisms over time) • Water Quality Objective (WQO) for selenium in the Bay Area is 5 µg/l

3. Impact on Human Health • Selenium is necessary in small amounts, but harmful in larger amounts • FDA recommended minimum amount is 70 µg/day; EPA maximum allowable dose is 350 µg/day for a 150-lb person • Short term health effects: hair and fingernail loss, fatigue, irritability • Long term effects: damage to liver, kidneys, nervous and circulatory systems

4. Kesterson Reservoir • Runoff from agricultural lands; drained into Kesterson Wildlife Refuge • Concentrations were found to be over 1400 µg/l • Deformities in fish and birds included severe curvature of spine, missing eyes/beaks/legs, exposed brains • In 1983, 64% of embryos and hatchlings of aquatic birds were found to be deformed (per USGS paper) • 1987: Kesterson declared a toxic waste dump, drained and partially buried • Ag runoff now goes to San Joaquin River (which now has elevated levels of selenium as well) or to on-site evaporation ponds

5. Lehigh Permanente QuarryPhoto credit: Anne Ernst

6. Selenium at Lehigh • Selenium is naturally occurring in the limestone on site; becomes mobilized on contact with air and water • Lehigh has now mined below the level of the water table – groundwater constantly seeping into quarry pit • Lehigh pumps water out of pit (“dewatering”) in order to mine further • Water goes into retention pond (Pond 4), then pumped into creek • Avg daily flow into pond: from 250,000 to 2.5 million gallons/day • Selenium may also be leaching from piles of limestone rubble and waste in the creek

7. Selenium Levels on Lehigh Site • Range between 13 to 81 µg/l in Permanente Creek immediately downstream from quarry pit • Concentrations in runoff water from the waste piles ranged from 7.1 to 38 µg/l (EMSA) and 29 µgl (WMSA); runoff from “wall washing” of quarry walls was 14 µg/l • Concentrations in quarry pit water: 82 µg/l • Concentrations in “dewatering pond” (Pond 4A): 100 µg/l

8. Selenium Downstream From Lehigh in Permanente Creek • Slightly elevated levels in Permanente Creek at Rancho San Antonio: 3 of 5 samples taken were above WQO (6, 9 and 12 µg/l); further downstream there were no detectable levels of selenium • Inconclusive (only one sample performed) testing performed in 2011 just west of 280 showed no detectable levels of selenium • Permanente Creek is listed by RWQCB as impaired for selenium

9. Other Pollutants Exceeding WQOs at Lehigh • Mercury: WQO is 0.025 µg/l; concentrations in creek range as high as 0.07 µg/l; surface water runoff as high as 0.36 µg/l • Nickel: WQO is 52 µg/l; concentrations in creek range as high as 110 µg/l; surface water runoff as high as 180 µg/l • Sulfate: WQO is 250 mg/l; concentrations in creek range as high as 1,110 mg/l; surface water runoff as high as 550 mg/l • Molybdenum: WQO is 50 µg/l; concentrations in creek range as high as 750 µg/l; surface water runoff as high as 160 µg/l

10. Wildlife in Permanente Creek • San Francisco Estuary Institute 2007 study documented several species of fish: California roach, Sacramento sucker, Threespine stickleback, bluegill, carp, rainwater killifish, and mosquitofish. • Fish are mostly located west of 280 in the upper reaches. • WRA conducted wildlife survey for Lehigh in 2009 and found: rainbow trout, Sacramento sucker, and mosquito fish • 9 amphibious species were found including California red-legged frog. • Birds in riparian area: great blue heron

11. What Is Being Done? • RWQCB is requiring reports from Lehigh on their discharges to the creek • RWQCB webpage on Lehigh: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay/water_issues/hot_topics/lehigh.shtml • RWQCB regulation based on these reports: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit:probably in 2013 • Sierra Club lawsuit • MROSD lawsuit

12. Clean Water Act • Regulated by RWQCB • Prohibits discharge of any pollutant into waters of the U.S. except according to NPDES permit • Lehigh has a general stormwater permit and a sand and gravel permit, but no NPDES permit • Anyone may sue to enforce if they have standing • Sierra Club lawsuit: discharge of pollutants without a permit; dumping quarry waste into creek

13. Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) • Reclamation: restoring land to condition for beneficial use • Reclamation Plan Amendment (RPA) describes what Lehigh will do to restore land to open space • Lehigh plans to continue mining in quarry pit till 2020, then will start reprocessing material from WMSA and use waste to backfill quarry pit • Material will continue to be dumped in EMSA till 2015, then will be revegetated • Only covers reclamation, not actual mining or other activities (e.g. cement plant)

14. EIR for Lehigh’s Reclamation Plan Amendment • CEQA/EIR overview • Significant impacts found: aesthetics/visual quality, biological resources, cultural resources, water quality/hydrology • Because EIR only evaluated impacts from reclamation activities, did not address any impacts due to actual mining or from cement plant • MROSD lawsuit: EIR was inadequate; failed to mitigate impacts to air and water quality, visual resources, and wildlife