DETAILS OF APPARENT EBMUD WRONGDOING

The following Public Comment Letter spells out the apparent willful concealment and non-disclosure of information by EBMUD staff during the environmental review process for the Bayside Groundwater Project.  It raises fundamental questions of agency trust, credibility, and accountability.  This Public Comment Letter was recently submitted to EBMUD by the Heron Bay Homeowner's Association and shows that EBMUD:

• Decided San Leandro/San Lorenzo was an easier target for the lower water quality and increased health risks from this project.  They identified our community as less affluent, less educated, having more ethnic minorities, and less likely to engage their politicians than alternatives sites like San Ramon.
• Concealed studies that show the Bayside Groundwater Project would add fatal cancer risks to our communities.
• Manipulated the wording of documents to hide the risks of contamination for water stored at this site.
• Ignored or crossed out the written concerns of their own Environmental Department employees about the negative effects of unknown wells throughout the San Leandro and San Lorenzo area.

Comment Letter and Exhibits

• Click here for the Heron Bay Homeowners Association Public Comment Letter (without exhibits), dated May 12, 2005, that summarizes EBMUD’s wrongdoings.  The file is 33 pages long and about 3 MB in size.
• Click here for the exhibits to the above Heron Bay Homeowners Association Public Comment Letter (5/12/05), consisting of internal EBMUD emails and memorandums that document EBMUD's apparent wrongdoing.  The file is 128 pages long and about 7 MB in size.
• Click here to see additional public comment letters to EBMUD’s 2005 and 2001 Draft Environmental Impact Reports.