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r` Margaret Ekholm Page 2 i Although many deadlines for the submittal of workplans and reports have been missed, PHS/EHD feels that you are making a good faith effort to comply with the directives from this office. However,should you wish ! to have a regulatory agency use a broader definition of a responsible party, PHS/EHD may refer your site to the CVRWQCB for enforcement action. Pleased be advised that this action may jeopardize your reimbursement through the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund Program. Again, PHS/EHD, by Iisting responsible parties, does not determine, in any way; the relative degree of responsibility of those responsible parties listed for a site. The terms "primary" and'"additional" responsible parties should not be misunderstood to reflect a degree of responsibility, but are merely used to establish f which responsible party was identified initially from those that were listed at a later date. PHS/EHD does not have the authority nor the jurisdiction to make determinations on relative responsibilities. These determinations fall under the jurisdiction of the courts. The court cases cited in the Ietter from your attorney emphasizes this option for possible recovery of costs associated with the assessment and cleanup of LUST sites. For this particular site,no known contamination was present at the site until the underground storage tanks were removed on April 17, 1991. Therefore, for the purposes of listing responsible parties under the LOP ; contract, this date is designated as the "release" date. PHS/EHD cannot list any owner or operator of the i USTs before this release date,with one exception. The exception is when the USTs were not active or not in use at the time the release was discovered. In this case, PHS/EHD can list the owner or operator of the USTs immediately prior to the discontinuation of their use. PHS/EHD finds that, based on the interpretation of the definition of a responsible party as previously noted, the last known operator of the USTs at this site prior to the discontinuation of their use, David Wood, can be listed as an additional responsible party. PHS/EHD has initiated the process to notify David Wood that he is being listed as an additional responsible party for this site. The other individuals or entities named in the letter cannot be listed as additional responsible parties for the purposes of the LOP contract for the reasons already discussed in this letter. Should you disagree with the interpretation of the definitions of responsible parties made by the SWRCB,PHS/EHD recommends that you submit all future correspondence regarding this issue directly to the SWRCB. In addition,should you feel that the federal and state laws are not written in such a way as to be interpreted ! fairly, PHS/EHD recommends that you submit all correspondence regarding this issue to your legislator. C It is hoped that this letter clarifies the role of PHS/EHD in listing responsible parties for LOP sites. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this letter in more detail, please contact Linda Turkatte, RENS, of my staff at (209) 468-3441. If your attorney has further questions regarding the interpretation of the definitions of responsible parties, they should be directed to the SWRCB. t Jogi Khanna, M.P.H. Health O r rie A. Cotulla, REHS, Program Manager nvironmental Health Division LACILT:Ib c: SWRCB-Lori Casias c: David Wood c: CVRWQCB-Beth Thayer c: Neumiller dnd Beardslee-Jeanne Zolezzi