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Board asks for wider analysis but moves forward on Tijuana River Valley investigation and EPA petition process
Summary
After hours of testimony about sewage and toxic pollution, the board authorized staff action to pursue federal review pathways, including a petition to the EPA for a site inspection, while directing the CAO to return in 90 days with legal and funding options and community impact analysis.
County supervisors advanced a multi‑track approach Oct. 8 to address long‑running cross‑border pollution in the Tijuana River Valley, authorizing staff to pursue federal investigative pathways while also asking for a detailed county analysis of legal and funding options before any final designation.
The meeting drew dozens of in‑person and phone speakers, municipal elected officials and academic experts who described decades of sewage and industrial contamination in the Tijuana River watershed. Paloma Aguirre, mayor of Imperial Beach, told the board the HEART team's hydrogen sulfide reading from Sept. 9 measured 15,500 parts per billion and urged an immediate Superfund petition. "So this is incredibly concerning for our community," she said.
Jack Hsu, chair of the Air Pollution Control District board, and Marcus Busch, a National City council member, urged the county to use every tool to secure state or federal resources. Environmental groups and academics cited studies and tests finding arsenic, DDT, PFAS, PCBs and traces of hexavalent chromium in the watershed and estuary.
Vice Chair Lawson Reamer framed a petition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a step to bring federal resources and an independent technical review. "This just sets the process in motion," Lawson Reamer said, describing the EPA process as preliminary assessment, site inspection, hazard ranking and potential listing on the National Priorities List.
District 1’s supervisor, while supporting the goal of federal help, urged caution: a Superfund listing can be lengthy, may not directly address pollution emanating from Mexico and could affect property values and local control. That supervisor moved that the chief administrative officer return in 90 days to the land use agenda with an analysis of legal/funding options — including Superfund, brownfields, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act avenues — and with assessments of impacts on affected communities.
The board approved the return‑to‑staff motion and the process to seek an EPA preliminary review, with the clerk recording two supervisors voting no. The record shows wide public support for federal action but also concern from some local stakeholders and supervisors about potential unintended consequences and timelines. Staff and federal agencies present on the record included the CDC and EPA representatives gathering more data.
The action does not itself create an EPA Superfund listing — that requires federal assessment and likely years of follow‑up — but it commits the county to pursue federal review and to compile local testimony and technical evidence the EPA would consider in a site inspection. County staff said the petitioning process would be paired with ongoing efforts to secure funding and infrastructure improvements for wastewater treatment on both sides of the border.
