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• MEMORANDUM • CALIFORNIA REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD • CENTRAL VALLEY REGION 3443 Routier Road, Suite A Phone: (916) 255-3000 Sacramento, CA 95827-3098 CALNET: 8-494-3000 TO: Wendy L. Cohen FROM: Joel M. Weiss Senior Engineer Engineering Geologist DATE: 10 August 1994 SIGNATURE: SUBJECT: MEETING SUMMARY, INDEPENDENT TRUCKING FACILITY, 1145 W. CHARTER WAY, STOCKTON, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY On 3 August 1994, you and I met with representatives of Independent Trucking (IT, the current operator at the site), and representatives of Mr. William Miles and Ms. Patricia Nolet (property owners), concerning soil and ground water contamination at the property. IT has admitted it contributed to the waste oil soil contamination at the site which has not yet been fully defined. IT conducted an investigation and excavated approximately 500 cubic yards of contaminated soil which is stockpiled at the site. Through its investigation, IT discovered an extensive contamination problem which it believes must have been caused by previous tenants. This seems to be the case based on all of the parties' historical accounts of past practices at the site and on the unearthing of a wooden tank filled with waste oil which IT has stated it never used. However, until we have some evidence that other parties contributed to the contamination, we must consider only IT and the property owners as the responsible parties. IT would like to see the Board allocate the next phase of responsibility (a work plan to fully define the extent of soil contamination and to characterize and remediate the stockpiled soils) to the property owners who have not yet spent any money. The property owners do not believe that they contributed to the problem and, therefore, are unwilling to fund the next phase of investigation. You stated it is Board policy not to allocate responsibility among responsible parties, so we cannot request only the property owners to do more work. We agreed to consult with the State's counsel regarding this issue, and then get back to the parties. IT's investigation also showed that soil and ground water are contaminated with gasoline constituents and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). At the meeting, Mr. John Welch, the attorney for Mr. Miles and Ms. Nolet, agreed that his clients would take responsibility concerning this issue. All of the responsible parties involved believe that the gasoline and VOCs have migrated from an adjacent property. Mr. Miles operated a trucking business at the site from the 1940's or 1950's until May 1970. At the August 1994 meeting, he explained that the past practice was to dispose of waste oil into an underground tank which may still reside just northwest of the maintenance shop. He also explained that an underground diesel tank was used at the site and that other tanks may also have been used.