SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE_FILE 1

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E n M PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION Ernest M. Fujimoto, M.D., M.P.H., Acting Health Officer 445 N. San Joaquin Street • P. O. Box 388 • Stockton, CA 95201-0388 209/468-3420 THEODORE K MARTIN C (OPY ATTORNEY AT LAW 333 EAST FOOTHILL BLVD ARCADIA CA 91006-2510 RE: 2969 LOOMIS RD SITE CODE: 2015 STOCKTON CA San Joaquin County Public Health Services, Environmental Health Division (PHS/EHD) has received your correspondence dated April 19, 1995 concerning the removal of two previously identified responsible parties and the designation of primary and secondary responsible parties. The following comments are provided for your consideration. In October of 1992, this office received clarification from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) concerning the identification of responsible parties for the purposes of our contract with the SWRCB only. PHS/EHD lists responsible parties pursuant to our contract with the SWRCB to recover costs associated with the Local Oversight Program. Please be advised that our listing or failure to list parties does not preclude any person from taking action in this regard as a civil matter. A release associated with the former tanks at this site was documented in March of 1987, the time the tanks were removed from the ground. At that time, John and Margaret Marci owned the tanks and the property where the tanks were located. As tank owners and owners of contaminated property, they are listed as a responsible party. However, the Marci's never operated the tanks at the site. Conversations between PHS/EHD and the Marci's and PHS/EHD and you have revealed that your clients continued to operate the tanks for a short period of time after the Marci's purchased the property from them. After your clients ceased to operate the tanks, they were pumped of fuel and were not filled with product or operated in any way until the date of their removal. As the tanks were pumped of fuel immediately after they were taken out of use, the release of product from these tanks must have occurred during the operation of the tanks. Therefore, your clients are named as a responsible party because they were the last party to operate the tanks prior to the discontinuation of their use. For the purposes of our contract, PHS/EHD cannot name a prior owner or operator of a tank unless it can be shown that the release occurred from the tanks during their ownership/use. In order for this office to identify any other prior owners or operators at this site, sufficient evidence (data) must be submitted to indicate a release had occurred during their use of the tanks. At this time, PHS/EHD does not have sufficient evidence to indicate a release occurred prior to your clients use of the tanks. It is for this reason that Harry Gebauer and Donald and Lois Allen were removed as responsible parties at this site. Your clients operated the tanks at the site during a period of time that there was a documented release from the tanks. Therefore, they can be considered primarily responsible. A Division of San Joaquin County Health Care Services