EPA stands firm: It will not review Tijuana River Estuary for Superfund status

Tammy Murga, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Mar 19, 2025

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SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will not reconsider its denial to investigate whether the Tijuana River Estuary qualifies as a Superfund site, a designation given to the most contaminated places in the country needing long-term cleanup.

In a Friday letter to Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Cheree Peterson, acting regional administrator with the federal agency, said a review for eligibility remains unwarranted despite the EPA being “keenly aware of the negative impacts that your city has suffered for too long.”

One of the main reasons for the denial, first stated in January: efforts to fix broken wastewater treatment infrastructure are already underway. The agency said the fixes “will provide a lasting solution.”

Major relief from pollution for sewage-impacted communities in South County is still several years away, however. A plant at the U.S.-Mexico border undergoing repair and expansion won’t be ready until about seven years. And a long-defunct plant in Baja California that was promised to be completed last September has yet to come online.

Infrastructure ruptures have complicated repair efforts in recent months, sending millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Tijuana River before reaching South County shorelines. Earlier this month, Mexico faced fractures and leaks while upgrading Tijuana’s largest sewer main, called the international collector, which is supposed to transport sewage flows into treatment plants and away from the river.

Peterson also stated that the EPA would not review a Superfund eligibility because of a “lack of apparent human health risks caused by hazardous substance releases.”

According to a January letter to local officials who had requested a Superfund consideration, the EPA said it looked into data of concentrations of polluting substances from more than six years ago. It found that pollution did not exceed the agency’s threshold for health concerns.

Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who spearheaded the request to the EPA, criticized the agency earlier this year for basing its decision on samples collected several years ago “when the reality is that things have gotten much worse since then.”

The push for a Superfund designation has not gone without some public objection. Some have raised concerns that such a label could potentially displace residents, shut down farms and bring down property values.

Aguirre, who is running to represent the county district that includes her city, says the effort is worth trying because her community is hurting from exposure to pollution.

On March 3, she wrote to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin asking for a new review. Her letter came after U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff asked Zeldin in January whether he would reconsider the agency’s decision, which he said he would.

On Tuesday, Aguirre called the EPA’s firm stance a “double blow” and vowed to redouble our fight to make Washington listen to us.”

“Despite this, I want South County residents to know we will not stop fighting until we have clean water and clean air,” she said in a statement. “The stakes are too high to accept inaction.”

Peterson said the EPA is working with federal, state and local agencies in implementing some of the recommendations issued in an October report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the impacts of the sewage crisis on residents. She did not specify what actions the agency has taken thus far.