SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE CASE 2

Home Browse Search

California Regional Water Quality Control Boards Central Valley Region Robert Schneider,Chair Winston H.Hickox Gray Davis Secretaryfor Sacramento Main Office Governor Environmental hitemet Address: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/mgcb5 Protection 3443 Routier Road,Suite A,Sacramento,California 95827-3003 Phone(916)255-3000•FAX(916)255-3015 13 March 2001 CERTIFIED MAIL 70001670 0007 7468 6065 Mr. Pat Mitchell, President California Natural Products P.O. Box 1219 Lathrop, CA 95330 CALIFORNIA NATURAL PRODUCTS, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY REQUEST FOR CONTINUANCE OF BOARD HEARING I WATER CODE SECTION 13267 ORDER FOR TECHNICAL REPORTS The Regional Board had scheduled a 15 March 2001 hearing to consider adoption of revised Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) for the California Natural Products facility. We are in receipt of your 7 March 2001 facsimile requesting that the Board postpone the hearing on this matter. As staff discussed with your attorney on 9 March 2001, we will agree to postpone the hearing upon the condition that California Natural Products completes investigations and technical reports and provides the information within the schedule described below. Postponement of Board Hearing Your 7 March 2001 letter lists three reasons why you believe the hearing must be postponed. These reasons are not valid for postponing the hearing, as described below. • First, you state that in early December 2000 you lost 90,000 gallons per day(gpd) in discharge capacity to the Manteca wastewater treatment plant, and that if you still had this capacity,you would be able to meet the flow limits in the tentative WDRs. The tentative WDRs were sent out for public comment on 4 December 2000. California Natural Products subsequently submitted numerous written comments, but did not mention that it had lost this flow capacity. In fact, staff did not learn about this until a 26 February 2001 meeting. At that time, California Natural Products revealed that the loss of capacity at the Manteca plant has resulted in increased flows to the land application area. Flows have increased from the 180,000 gpd given in the Report of Waste Discharge (RWD) to well over 250,000 gpd. It is California Natural Products' responsibility to fully inform staff, in a timely manner, about all issues relating to waste disposal capacity. The fact that California Natural Products has not been timely in its notification is not a reason to postpone the Board hearing. California Environmental Protection Agency Co Recycled Paper The energy challenge facing California is real. Every Californian needs to take immediate action to reduce energy consumption. For a list of simple ways you can reduce demand and cut your energy costs,a=our Web-site at http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/mgcb5