DIESEL SPILL NETS LANDOWNER HUGE FINE

The county has fined the owner of the Southern Humboldt County
property fouled by a major diesel spill $215,000 on top of the
$200,000 it took to clean it up, and criminal or civil charges are
reportedly being considered as well.

Exercising its administrative enforcement authority, the Humboldt
County Department of Health and Human Service's Environmental Health
Division directed Albert Tordjman -- a chef now apparently living in
Thailand -- to correct the numerous violations stemming from an
alleged pot grow. About 1,000 gallons of red dye diesel spilled from
a tank on the property, into the soil, with some reaching Hacker
Creek, a tributary of Salmon Creek outside Miranda.

The spill was reported to the California Department of Fish and Game
on May 14. Cleanup took weeks. County Supervising Environmental
Health Specialist Melissa Martel said that 80 cubic yards of soil and
rock were removed by digging a trench 18 feet wide, 24 feet long and
4 to 9 feet deep. Another trench was built nearby to intercept any
other diesel and capture it in absorbent pads.

Martel said Tordjman's violations included having two above-ground
storage tanks without a spill prevention program, collection of
hazardous waste in unapproved containers and improper handling of
hazardous waste.

The environmental health division on Aug. 5 signed a consent decree
between it and Tordjman, in which he agreed to correct the problems
and pay the $215,000 fine, or be charged $505,000.

The stiff penalty is the result of increasing administrative
enforcement action by the department, Martel said, since problems
with chemical releases from marijuana grows continue to be a problem.

"If people just took the proper care and precautions," Martel said,
"we wouldn't be seeing the releases that we continue to see."

Tordjman has been correcting the violations, Martel said, but whether
the fine will be collected has yet to be seen, as the chef is still
in Thailand. The property is also listed for sale.

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board said it has been
unable to serve its cleanup and abatement order dated May 23 to
Tordjman. Sent repeatedly by mail to a post office box in Miranda,
the order keeps being returned to the center, said water board
supervising engineer Dave Evans.

"We're all wondering what's going to happen when the rains come
back," Evans said.

The concern is that while lots of material has been removed, some
diesel may remain in the soil and leach out into the creek during the
first rains. The water board order demands that monitoring be
performed to detect whether more cleanup is necessary.

But Tordjman's Garberville attorney Eric Kirk said the water board
can serve him with the documents, and can contact him to work out
arrangements. Kirk said Tordjman has already agreed to allow access
to the property for monitoring purposes

"I don't know what the issue is," Kirk said.

It was one of the largest spills of diesel in recent memory, and Fish
and Game early on expected that criminal or civil charges would be
sent on to the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office for consideration.

"The case rests with the District Attorney's Office," confirmed Fish
and Game warden A.J. Bolton earlier this week.

Several calls and e-mails to District Attorney Paul Gallegos were not returned.