Showing posts with label Fireworks: 2007 Perchlorate updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fireworks: 2007 Perchlorate updates. Show all posts

September 22, 2007

New perchlorate rules go into effect 10/19/07

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_perch21.3e7dd56.html#
10:23 AM PDT on Friday, September 21, 2007
By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise

New state regulations setting a legal limit for the chemical perchlorate in public drinking water will go into effect Oct. 19, forcing millions of dollars in cleanup efforts.

The rule became official after it passed the scrutiny of the state Office of Administrative Law and was signed Wednesday by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, said a spokeswoman for Bowen's office.

The rule allows no more than 6 parts perchlorate per billion parts of tap water.

Perchlorate is a chemical used in rocket fuel, fireworks and other explosives. Although it has contaminated dozens of Inland wells, most area water providers already meet the new state standard.

But one San Bernardino-area water district faces about $30 million in cleanup costs.

Water delivered to East Valley Water District customers this year averaged slightly more than the new limit. Perchlorate concentrations have reached as high as 8.6 parts per billion, district officials said last month.

The district provides water to about 70,000 people in eastern San Bernardino, Highland and unincorporated areas nearby.

Ron Buchwald, the district's engineer, said last month that East Valley will seek state and federal grants to help pay for removing perchlorate from its water supplies.

Buchwald could not be reached Thursday for comment.

The state regulations require the district to warn customers about the potential health effects of consuming perchlorate.

The chemical can disrupt the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodide and make hormones that guide brain and nerve development of fetuses and babies. The hormones also control metabolism.

Pregnant women and iodide-deficient women are more vulnerable to the chemical's ill effects, studies have found.

Defense industries, fireworks factories, fertilizers and other sources have been blamed for Inland perchlorate contamination. Fertilizer is the suspected source in the Highland area.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™




August 23, 2007

Perchlorate hearings delayed

Marchers Label Polluters ‘Public Enemy #1'
Thursday, 23 August 2007
RIALTO
http://www.blackvoicenews.com/content/view/41190/4/

By Chris Levister

Braving the scorching heat, dozens of angry residents and members of the Riverside-based Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice marched and rallied down Foothill Boulevard Tuesday demanding that polluters clean up water contamination.

Tuesday was supposed to be the first day of state hearings to determine if three companies should have to clean the chemical perchlorate from drinking water wells that serve thousands of Rialto and Colton residents. On Friday the group learned a Los Angeles judge issued a temporary stay to stop the hearings - thus postponing the proceedings - for the fifth time.

"We are shocked and alarmed that addressing this environmental disaster has been delayed through legal tactics by these polluters," said Jan Misquez, staff member of CCAEJ.

For nearly three years the group has been working to raise awareness on the issue of groundwater contamination by Goodrich, Black and Decker and PyroSpectacular.

The companies accused of the contamination all operated on the 160-acre industrial site used since World War II on the north end of the city.

"The state's inability to get these hearings off the starting block, leave us wondering who is protecting us? Who can we count on to protect our families?" said CCAEJ executive director Penny Newman.

Newman called the polluters "environmental terrorists" and called on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to assemble a task force to order the companies to clean up the mess.

"Justice delayed is justice denied. What do we want - clean water now," protesters chanted in English and Spanish.

The show of blue and white placards demanding clean up was dotted with WANTED posters embossed with photographs of the heads of the three companies accused of being responsible for the pollution. The signs labeled them "Public Enemy #1."

Newman lamented that with each postponement the plume of chemicals flowing south toward Colton and west toward Fontana endangers thousands of families. She said Rialto residents have paid $10 million in perchlorate surcharges since 2004.

Perchlorate is used in the production of explosives, including rocket fuel and fireworks. The chemical affects the thyroid gland, which controls growth, development and metabolism.

Rialto estimates it will cost $300 million to clean up the pollution. Perchlorate was discovered in the city's water supply in 1997. Newman said the latest postponement of 62 days will cause the city to lose another 800 million gallons of fresh drinking water.

"If necessary we will take this protest to Sacramento and beyond. We've got an environmental disaster on our hands. You can expect to see more pressure on elected officials."

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™




laser show will replace the fireworks show due to perchlorate risks

People are starting to see the connection. When will congress which has two Perchlorate bills pending, both sponsored by Calif Senators Feinstein and Boxer, see the connection?

Novato drops Labor Day fireworks after concerns over water contamination

Joe Wolfcale
Marin Independent Journal
Article Launched:08/22/2007 06:03:19 PM PDT
http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_6691972

Novato officials have canceled the fireworks display at the annual Labor Day at the Lake celebration because a chemical that contaminates drinking water was found in lake water after last year's event.

Water samples from Stafford Lake taken after last year's pyrotechnics showed a trace amount of perchlorate, a chemical dangerous for human consumption.

Water district officials believe the source of the perchlorate was an unexploded shell or shell casing that contaminated water in one area of the lake. City officials said, however, the contaminant level was so small it did not pose a danger to humans or require official notification to state agencies that monitor water systems.

A three-dimensional laser show will replace the fireworks show.

"We can't have that in our water supply, so it's a big concern for the water district," Novato City Manager Dan Keen said. "We had discussions right after the event last year and we just didn't have the comfort level we all wanted to have to proceed. I've seen a preview of the laser show, so it should be pretty interesting.

"We'll still have plenty of kid-friendly stuff."

Nearly 5,000 people attended last year's celebration. To date, the event has raised $180,000, with the proceeds benefiting the Novato Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department scholarship fund, Division Manager Katy Graves said.

"The fireworks was such a big draw for the event, we didn't want to lose it," Graves said. "We're really looking forward to the laser show and think it will be one of the first and biggest in the county."

Subsequent samples of Stafford Lake water showed no trace of the chemical. Water officials tested Stafford Lake after each fireworks show but found a high level of perchlorate only after last year's event, according to a Jan. 12 memorandum from Pablo Ramudo, water quality supervisor for the North Marin Water District.

Perchlorate breaks down slowly in the environment and is used primarily as a component of solid propellant rockets, missiles and fireworks. About 20 percent of Novato's drinking water comes from Stafford Lake; the rest comes from the Russian River.

"Our mission is to provide good quality water and we can't let entertainment get in the way of that," said David Bentley, acting general manager for the North Marin Water District.

"There are perchlorate-free fireworks made, but this is such an important matter, we didn't want to take any chances," Keen said.

Read more Novato stories at the IJ's Novato page.

Contact Joe Wolfcale via e-mail at jwolfcale@marinij.com

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™




July 30, 2007

Rialto CA perchlorate hearing

Rialto takes perchlorate stand
Article Launched: 07/28/2007 09:59:16 PM PDT
http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_6489939

According to the most recent Study by the Center for Disease Control, perchlorate in drinking water, even at low doses, is a threat to the thyroid function of many of U.S. women, and to brain and nervous system development in children. By 2002, it had become apparent that a 6-mile-long plume of perchlorate, a key ingredient of rocket fuel, and trichloroethylene (TCE), a hazardous solvent phased out of industrial use by the 1980s, contaminates the otherwise pure groundwater aquifer that supplies drinking water for the city of Rialto and the Rialto Utility Authority.

The source is a World War II ordinance depot later used for manufacturing by large defense contractors and fireworks manufacturers. The contamination comes from land now used by San Bernardino County for its Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill, to the west, and a 160-acre site to the east occupied by Goodrich Corporation, Emhart (Black & Decker), Pyro Spectaculars and other manufacturers.

In response, the Rialto City Council adopted a policy of shutting down contaminated wells to avoid serving perchlorate in any amount to its citizens. Initially, perchlorate concentrations were detected in the dozens to several hundred parts per billion (ppb). Additional investigation and testing found perchlorate as high as 5,000-10,000 ppb, the highest level in the nation in a domestic water supply. The state of California action level is 6 ppb.

Protecting citizens' health is paramount, but the potential effects on business, development and the city's finances are also dire. Installing wellhead treatment costs millions, and operational costs add millions more. With the new 210 Freeway, parts of the city are poised for increased development and employment. But if the city cannot assure a 20-year supply of water, state law prohibits local development.

Projected costs for the cleanup run as high as $200 million to $300 million.

Initially, Rialto turned to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board - Santa Ana Region (RWQCB) for assistance. EPA undertook some studies and issued investigation orders to some of the dischargers. At the time, the Bush administration, under pressure from major defense contractors that had used perchlorate nationally and the Pentagon, resisted adoption of a federal cleanup standard or rigid enforcement by the EPA. EPA took no further action, and deferred to the state of California.

The first prosecution effort by the RWQCB ended in a dismissal for lack of evidence. In 2003, Rialto turned to San Bernardino County and asked it to take steps to control the perchlorate from its Mid-Valley Landfill. Through then-supervisor Jerry Eaves, the county declined to offer Rialto any help and denied the extent of the contamination later confirmed by more testing.

Faced with ineffective action from EPA and the regional board, a rejection of liability from the county, and some expiring statutes of limitation, Rialto brought suit in federal court in 2004 to make the large corporate polluters and insurance companies - rather than its own citizens - pay for the cleanup.

Through investigation of activities as far back as the 1940s, and under federal discovery authority, a mass of evidence was collected and delivered to the RWQCB and EPA. Using some of this evidence, Rialto was successful in November 2005 in obtaining a Clean-up and Abatement Order from the RWQCB that requires the county to clean up the perchlorate emanating from the landfill. By late 2006, the RWQCB began a further prosecution of Goodrich, Emhart/Black & Decker and Pyro Spectaculars, supported in substantial part by the evidence from the federal litigation.

Rialto's strategy is straightforward: use the federal litigation to supply evidence to EPA and the regional board with the objective of obtaining orders for cleanup of the basin. California law requires such a lawsuit to invoke the decades of insurance coverage of many of the dischargers, some of whom otherwise lack funding.

Rialto's objective has always been to play a supporting role to federal and state agencies to obtain the orders for prompt cleanup. That strategy has worked as to the county and its landfill.

The current State Water Board prosecution, which goes to hearing in Rialto Aug. 21-30, will hopefully result in a cleanup order on the eastern part of the plume as well. Rialto will participate and assist the RWQCB in presenting important evidence.

If that hearing, which has been delayed four times by the large, well-funded law firms representing the dischargers, is not successful, Rialto has as a backup its federal lawsuit, which should go to trial in late 2008. Either way, Rialto is committed to making the large corporate polluters and insurance companies pay for the cleanup.

The same federal litigation has been filed by the city of Colton, West Valley Water District and the private supplier Fontana Water Company. Right now, Rialto and Colton are doing the work in the litigation. The same water purveyors, and the county - both singly and jointly - have applied for federal and state cleanup money for years with only limited success.

Rialto is following a dual approach of assisting the administrative agencies and using the federal litigation as a backup. We request this newspaper and all affected citizens to support the current State Water Board prosecution in Rialto Aug. 21-30.

The state Legislature should be encouraged to supply funding for prosecution of the dischargers and to assist with the cleanup. EPA should likewise be more actively involved, and take further action on the evidence that has been supplied to it. The health and welfare of Rialto's citizens, and its women and children in particular, deserve nothing less.

- Winnie Hanson, Rialto's mayor pro tem, and Ed Scott, council member, comprise the Rialto Perchlorate Subcommittee.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™




July 4, 2007

Fireworks displays linked to perchlorate contamination in lakes

this story below is related to the SeaWorld Story we reported.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | May 23, 2007
ACS News Service Weekly PressPac - May 23, 2007
American Chemical Society (ACS) News Service Weekly press package (PressPac)

Environmental Science & Technology

Fourth of July fireworks displays, often held over lakes and other bodies of water to minimize the risk of fire, can deposit significant amounts of perchlorate into the water, according to a study scheduled for the June 1 issue of ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Richard T. Wilkin and colleagues, who did the research, point out that concerns have arisen over the effects of environmental perchlorate on human health and wildlife. Sources of perchlorate range from lightening and certain fertilizers to the perchlorate compounds in rocket fuel and explosives.

Scientists long suspected that community fireworks displays were another source, but few studies had been done on the topic.

Wilkin’s group definitely established fireworks displays as a source of perchlorate contamination by analyzing water in an Oklahoma lake before and after fireworks displays in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Within 14 hours after the fireworks, perchlorate levels rose 24 to 1,028 times above background levels. Levels peaked about 24 hours after the display, and then decreased to the pre-fireworks background within 20-80 days.

ARTICLE: “Perchlorate Behavior in a Municipal Lake Following Fireworks Displays”

click here to read entire publication

DOWNLOAD PDF
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/pdf/es0700698.pdf
DOWNLOAD HTML
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/html/es0700698.html

CONTACT:
Richard T. Wilkin, Ph.D.
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Ada, Oklahoma 74820
Phone: 580-436-8874
Fax: 580-436-8730
Email: wilkin.rick@epa.gov





May 3, 2007

Perchlorate settlement with Former Fireworks Factory

Deal will clean Santa Clarita Valley aquifers
By Valerie Reitman, Times Staff Writer
May 3, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-water3may03,1,3991180.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

Perchlorate contaminating the Santa Clarita Valley's underground water supply is to be cleaned up under an estimated $100-million settlement of a federal lawsuit against former and present owners of a shuttered munitions and fireworks factory announced Wednesday.

The suit was filed by four area water agencies in November 2000 against Whittaker Corp., Remediation Financial Inc. and Santa Clarita LLC over pollution at the 996-acre site known as the Whittaker-Bermite plant, which for decades operated in the heart of Santa Clarita.

Five public wells were shut in 1997, about a decade after the plant closed, after the perchlorate contamination was discovered.

Perchlorate compounds are used in the manufacture of explosives, munitions and rocket fuel.

Under the agreement, a treatment plant will be built to clean up pollution in two local aquifers.

The facility will be at Bouquet Canyon Road, next to the Castaic Lake Water Agency pump station. The agency was a plaintiff, along with the Newhall County Water Agency, the Santa Clarita Water Co. and the Valencia Water Co.

The settlement is still subject to federal District Court and Bankruptcy Court approval. The current site owners filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

Two potential buyers — SunCal Cos., a builder, and Cherokee Investment Partners, which specializes in redeveloping polluted properties — have proposed buying and developing the site with homes and businesses after soil cleanup is complete.

April 21, 2007

State delays perchlorate hearing for 2 months

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_perch18.3bf7e41.html

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, April 17, 2007

By JENNIFER BOWLES
The Press-Enterprise

A hearing to determine those responsible for the Inland region's most significant water pollution problem has been delayed once again.

Tam Doduc, chairman of the State Water Resources Control Board, postponed the hearing for two months to give attorneys more time to file rebuttals. The hearing's aim is to assign blame and cleanup responsibility for a massive underground plume of perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient linked to thyroid ailments, that has tainted 16 wells in Rialto and Colton.

The hearing, which was set to begin May 8, will now start July 9 and run an additional five days through the month, said William L. Rukeyser, a spokesman for the state water board. The hearing will be held in the Rialto area, Rukeyser said.

Regional water-quality officials, who have been investigating the case, say they believe the lengthy plume was mainly caused by three companies that have used a 160-acre industrial lot in northern Rialto. Pyro Spectaculars Inc., a fireworks company, currently uses the site. Two defense contractors -- Goodrich Corp. and Emhart, which is a subsidiary of Black and Decker -- used the site in the 1950s and 1960s. All three companies have denied any role in the pollution.

Community activists said they were disappointed to see another delay.

"As long as there is no cleanup plan, the water supply to the residents is in danger," said Davin Diaz, who is with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. "We were all looking forward to some type of closure, and it just keeps feeling like it's dragging on."

Rukeyser said the agency wants all parties to have a chance to present and defend their case so there will be no grounds to appeal any decision reached by the state board.

"We as well want an expeditious conclusion to this process," he said. "But, we also want to make sure that there are no arguments or claims that anybody was in any way deprived of due process."

Reach Jennifer Bowles at 951-368-9548 or jbowles@PE.com

March 4, 2007

Rialto officials report progress on perchlorate

10:00 PM PST on Monday, February 26, 2007
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_B_bperch27.1b2d449.html

By MASSIEL LADRÓN DE GUEVARA
The Press-Enterprise

About 30 residents of Rialto and the surrounding area were told Monday of two developments in the flight to clean up perchlorate contamination in water wells.

The long-awaited hearing to determine blame for the Inland region's most significant water-pollution case will be held in Rialto starting March 28, city attorney Bob Owen announced to the audience at a town hall meeting in Rialto.

The hearing could lead to the cleanup of an underground plume of perchlorate several miles long.

Owen also announced that a plan outlining options on cleaning the plume of contamination and the source area has been completed.

Now, the city wants to involve the community in the decision-making process of what remediation efforts will be chosen, who will pay for them and how much it's going to cost, Owen said.

"This is what we will be taking to court, to the upcoming hearing, to the Regional Water Quality Control Board and to state and federal officials that represent us," Owen said.

A link to the city's Web site will be added in coming weeks soliciting community views on the issue, he said.

Perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel and fireworks, has contaminated six Rialto water wells. It is believed that the chemical interferes with thyroid function and brain development. Human fetuses and newborns are considered most at risk.

Residents were reassured after expressing concern that the city's water is safe to drink.

"You're pretty much safer than the average consumer in California when it comes to water because of the council's zero-tolerance policy," Owen said.

Under the city's policy, if a well tests positive for detectible levels of perchlorate, it is taken out of service. The well's water won't be placed back into the city's water system unless it is outfitted with treatment equipment and the water tests -- using state-approved methods -- do not detect perchlorate.

Councilman Ed Scott said he wants to hire a medical expert on perchlorate to learn about all possible medical side effects of the chemical and to see if anyone in the area is affected.

Philip McCririe, a Rialto resident, said he is glad to see that city officials are concerned about the water contamination and are making progress.

"It's very bureaucratic, but I'm happy it's moving forward," he said.

Reach Massiel Ladrón De Guevara at 909-806-3054 or mdeguevara@PE.com

January 12, 2007

fireworks company, Pyrospectacular, dumped perchlorate

10:00 PM PST on Thursday, January 11, 2007

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_perch12.3621dbe.html#

By JENNIFER BOWLES
The Press-Enterprise

A long-awaited hearing on the Inland region's largest unabated plume of perchlorate pollution in groundwater is scheduled for March 23, officials said Thursday.
Story continues below

The hearing is aimed at assigning blame and cleanup of the plume of the rocket-fuel chemical, which pollutes a key drinking-water basin and stretches several miles below Rialto and Colton. It has shut down more than a dozen drinking-water wells that served some 150,000 residents in the two cities.

"I hope this will be a really big first step to cleaning up the entire perchlorate contamination. The polluters have to start going to work," said Davin Diaz, an activist with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice in San Bernardino.

Perchlorate, also used in road flares, fireworks and similar products, has been detected in the water supplies of Corona, Redlands, Fontana, Riverside and other Inland communities.

The chemical can interfere with the thyroid gland's ability to make hormones that guide brain and nerve development in fetuses, babies and young children.

The state has proposed a drinking water standard of 6 parts per billion. In the Rialto plume, tests have revealed that groundwater below the suspected source, a 160-acre industrial site in the northern end of the city, contains concentrations of perchlorate at 10,000 parts per billion.

The March hearing will act much like a trial. Regional water-quality investigators will present testimony from witnesses and evidence that workers at Goodrich Corp., a subsidiary of Black & Decker, and a local fireworks company, Pyrospectacular, dumped perchlorate on the ground or burned it in pits at the industrial site, where the chemical eventually seeped into the groundwater.

The three companies will have an opportunity to respond. Officials at Emhart, the subsidiary of Black & Decker, say that the company is the corporate successor of West Coast Loading -- which made perchlorate-containing flares and ground-burst simulators for the Army at the site from 1952 until 1957, said the company's attorney, Bob Wyatt.

September 9, 2006

Pollution Concerns May Lower the Boom on Offshore Fireworks

SeaWorld San Diego has suspended its shows and plans to seek a discharge permit. Beach cities fear additional costs of more regulations.
By Seema Mehta and Jennifer Delson
LA Times Staff Writers

September 9, 2006

Fears that major fireworks shows may be polluting the Pacific Ocean could dampen pyrotechnics displays along the California coast.

A threatened lawsuit by an environmental group prompted SeaWorld San Diego to scrap its fireworks shows for the rest of the year, and beach cities are wondering if heightened scrutiny by state regulators will make fireworks for the Fourth of July and other traditional celebrations too expensive to support.

Environmentalists "are pushing the envelope and, yes, it will be troublesome for any agency firing over water," said Dusty Crane, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors, which shoots fireworks off Marina del Rey for Independence Day, the annual Christmas boat parade and New Year's Eve.

Any new fireworks regulations are "definitely going to make it more difficult, and it's going to be more costly, and it could end them," Crane said.

Federal and state environmental regulators said they know of no previous regulatory efforts regarding fireworks and water pollution, aside from a 2003 study of Lake Tahoe that resulted in no action.

"It's an unusual circumstance," said Nancy Woo, associate director of the water division for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional office. "On first blush, I was, like, 'Whoa, that's a good question.' "

SeaWorld amusement park has more than 120 fireworks displays annually, shot off a barge in Mission Bay.

San Diego Coastkeeper has grown increasingly concerned about the displays' cumulative effect on the water and the sediment in the bay, said Marco Gonzalez, attorney for the environmental organization.

On June 26, Coastkeeper notified SeaWorld that it intended to sue the park for violating the federal Clean Water Act, alleging that its fireworks displays shower harmful heavy metals and chemicals into the bay, and that it never applied for a state permit to discharge such pollutants into the water.

"The incremental impacts from long-term fireworks displays are something we know nothing about," Gonzalez said.

SeaWorld decided Aug. 20 to suspend its fireworks and plans to apply for a discharge permit from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board by month's end, said SeaWorld spokesman Dave Koontz. He said the park does not agree with the allegations or the contention that a permit is required under the Clean Water Act.

"But in light of the fact they intended to file a lawsuit against us, we decided the most appropriate course of action was to suspend the fireworks," he said.

Koontz said the park takes steps to deal with pollution, sending out a crew in a boat after each display to pick up paper debris. The next morning, workers scour the beaches off SeaWorld and Fiesta Island for debris that may have washed ashore.

Additionally, he said, the California Coastal Commission has required the park to monitor the waters of Mission Bay for the past five years, and the data show that the fireworks have not had an impact. "We feel we're extremely responsible in how we conduct our fireworks operation," he said.

Fireworks also release metals such as copper ­ which creates the color green ­ and chemicals such as perchlorate, which is used in detonation.

John Robertus, executive officer of the regional water board, said a review of SeaWorld's permit application would take six months to a year. As part of that review, the agency will investigate the bay's water and sediments to ensure that pollutants from the fireworks are not affecting the ecosystem and will look at the effects of the sound on birds that nest in Mission Bay, a stopover on the Pacific Flyway.

If the agency determines that fireworks over the ocean should be regulated, Robertus envisions a multitiered approach. Cities and organizations that shoot off fireworks once or twice a year might receive a waiver; a general state permit might be issued to those who sponsor several shows a year; and entities that hold them frequently, such as SeaWorld, might be required to apply for a permit that includes extensive environmental monitoring.

"The SeaWorld problem is perhaps a little more unique than other fireworks displays because it occurs 120 times on an annual basis," Robertus said, "and it takes place over the water in Mission Bay, and Mission Bay does not have good circulation and it's quite shallow."

Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, said his agency also could require those who put on fireworks displays to obtain a coastal development permit.

Though regulatory agencies had not considered fireworks in the past, he said, they ought to, given the increased knowledge about the cumulative impact of pollutants. "We have to elevate our level of concern," he said.

Coastkeeper hopes the action brings increased scrutiny to all fireworks celebrations in the state.

"The Clean Water Act is very clear: Any discharge of pollutants … into waters of the United States requires a permit, and the mere fact that fireworks are tied to our patriotic Fourth of July celebrations is not an exemption under the Clean Water Act," he said.

Julie L. Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Assn. in Bethesda, Md., called the possible regulatory action "absurd," and said fireworks pose little environmental risk.

"Fireworks are designed to burst and be consumed in the sky. They burn by combustion. We are not directly discharging or emitting chemicals into the water stream," Heckman said. "This is another attempt of the environmentalists' extreme let's-just-ban-everything. This industry has been under such regulatory scrutiny since 9/11. At some point, it has just got to stop or Americans are not going to see fireworks ever again."

Cities that play host to fireworks displays also are concerned that more bureaucracy means more costs.

Renee Dunn, spokeswoman for the Port of San Francisco, which hosts a handful of fireworks annually in the bay, said permits "would be a huge problem for us. It would create quite a glitch for festivities in San Francisco."

Laurie Payne, community information officer for Huntington Beach, said that volunteers were already stretched thin, raising $50,000 annually for the Fourth of July display off the pier. "It sounds like an additional expense. Any added expense would be difficult because … it would be more of a burden on the volunteer group," she said.

In San Diego, Alex Raugust said he learned that SeaWorld's fireworks were halted as he was waiting for the show in his Point Loma backyard with his young cousins.

"I thought, 'What a nice treat for these young kids.' Instead, what they learned about was our litigious society. I was kind of disgusted," he said. "The SeaWorld fireworks are like a summer tradition in San Diego, and it's kind of a perk of living in this area. It's like a nightcap at the end of the evening."

seema.mehta@latimes.com
jennifer.delson@latimes.com