Agenda

Return

C.13

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Greg Baer, Director of Airports
Date:	April 24, 2023

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Cost Reimbursement Agreement with the Regional Water Quality Control Board for PFAS Oversight at Buchanan Field Airport

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 04/24/2023

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Ken Carlson, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Beth Lee, 925-681-4200

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: April 24, 2023
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Director of Airports, or designee, to execute an acknowledgment of a Cost Reimbursement Account Letter received from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) under which the County agrees to reimburse the Regional Board for work it intends to perform from April 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023, in connection with its oversight of the investigation and cleanup of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) at Buchanan Field Airport (District IV).

FISCAL IMPACT:

The cost of reimbursing the Regional Water Board for the anticipated work, estimated to be $2,460, will be paid by the Airport Enterprise Fund.

BACKGROUND:

In March 2019, the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) issued Order WQ-2019-0005-DWQ (the Order), which required certain airports, including Buchanan Field Airport, to (i) conduct a “one-time preliminary site investigation” regarding the storage and use of Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), and (ii) obtain a preliminary understanding of PFAS concentrations in soil and/or groundwater resulting from the use of PFAS at the airport. PFAS are a family of more than 3,000 man-made and mostly unregulated chemicals that are resistant to degradation in the environment. PFAS are manufactured globally and have been used in the production of many industrial and household products such as dental floss, non-stick cookware, waterproof products, cleaning products, and firefighting foams.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires airports with scheduled air carrier operations to have firefighting equipment on site and to periodically test the equipment, which includes spraying firefighting foam. As a result, airports such as Buchanan Field have been identified as likely candidates for PFAS contamination.

The Order required the County to submit an investigation work plan and final report to the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board). To complete this task, the County engaged with Mead and Hunt, one of its pre-qualified on-call aviation consultants to prepare the required work plan and a final report through a contract dated August 1, 2019. The Regional Board formally accepted the required work plan on December 19, 2019. The Regional Water Board subsequently requested that the County prepare a new work plan that would focus on the lateral and vertical extent of PFAS found on the Airport during previous soil and groundwater sampling. The new work plan was submitted to the State Water Board on January 31, 2023.

The Regional Board is now requesting that the County agree to reimburse the Regional Board for performing certain tasks during the period beginning April 1, 2023, and continuing through June 30, 2023. The planned work is part of the Regional Board’s effort to oversee the investigation and cleanup of the Airport. Attached is a copy of the April 13, 2023, letter from the Regional Water Board; Attachment 3 to the letter is the form of acknowledgment that the County is being asked to sign. According to the letter, the Regional Board is estimating that its staff will expend 12 hours performing the identified tasks at an estimated cost of $205 per hour, which amounts to a total estimated cost of $2,460 to be reimbursed to the Regional Board for the three-month period ending June 30, 2023.

Any additional cost reimbursement agreements requested by the Regional Board will be submitted to this Board for approval.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

Failure to execute the Regional Board’s Oversight Cost Reimbursement letter will likely result in a formal order being issued for PFAS clean-up and program oversight cost recovery, including the cost for their time to write the formal order.