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Buzz Oates Construction, LLC - 2 - 17 December 2018 waste. The State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) in interpreting section 13304 has found the following classes of persons to be responsible for either causing or permitting a discharge of waste: (1) owners and operators at the time of initial discharge; (2) current property owners; (3) interim property owners in certain circumstances; and (4) certain leases of property. In all of these State Board orders, the source of the groundwater pollution was at the property itself. The State Board has not addressed the issue of whether a property owner would be responsible for groundwater pollution underlying the property where the source of pollution is off the property. Several Regional Boards, however, have included such owners as a responsible party in section 13304 Order where access on their property was necessary to complete clean up or investigate groundwater pollution, and the owner failed to provide reasonable access. In such cases, the orders did not require the owner to clean up the groundwater, but rather, to provide reasonable access. Based on the State Board's past orders, an owner of property overlying or sharing a property boundary with pollution originating from an offsite source or neighbor is unlikely to be held responsible for that pollution except for purposes of access unless activities on the property exacerbate or contribute to that groundwater pollution. So long as operators at the property do not cause or permit, or have not caused or permitted, a discharge from the subject site, do not exacerbate, or have not exacerbated, the existing pollution, and do not deny reasonable access to address pollution, such as allowing for the installation of groundwater monitoring wells or accessing existing groundwater monitoring wells on the property, the Regional Water Board is not likely to find the owner responsible for the groundwater pollution beneath the property. The responsible parties have conducted several investigations, removed 3,567 -tons of excavated waste from the North and South Waste Cells, characterized recovered material from Waste Unit I in accordance with CCR Title 22 Section 66261.24, and cement stabilized appropriate Waste Unit I wastes in the building foundation. The remediation or clean-up of such wastes will allow for a NFA recommendation for the North and South Waste Cells after the remaining waste is addressed on the SJCP property. Although material from Waste Unit I will be stabilized in foundation material, because the waste will remain onsité, a Land Use Covenant (LUC) will be established for the subject property. The LUC will establish limited commercial uses, prohibit the use of groundwater beneath the property for drinking water purposes, establish provisions for future management of reused waste, and require maintenance of the proposed building floor slab and pavements that cover and contain the consolidated waste material from Waste Unit 1. Onsite potential pollution from unpermitted buried wastes present at the property boundary with the SJCP and the SJCP site is currently undergoing site assessment by its responsible pérty. Staff will recommend closure of the 17100 Murphy Parkway site in Lathrop to the Regional' Water Board when the waste is addressed at the neighboring SJCP. Staff will keep you informed of the progress of your closure request. If you need any further information, you may contact me at (916) 464-4712. - Sincerely, Stewart W. Black, P.G. Site Cleanup Program Manager cc: Joe Brusca, Brusca and Associates,, (email)