Pacific Gas and Electric to Pay $14 Million to Settle Clean Water Act Violations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1997                              (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

      PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC TO PAY $14 MILLION TO SETTLE
                    CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A team of California and federal
environmental law enforcement officials today announced the
settlement of one of the largest environmental cases in California
history.  Under the terms of an agreement filed today, Pacific Gas
and Electric will pay more than $14 million to settle allegations
it violated state and federal clean water laws at its Diablo Canyon
Nuclear Power Plant by submitting incomplete and misleading data on
the amount of sea life drawn into its water cooling system.

     The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is located on
California's central coast near San Luis Obisbo.

     "State and federal environmental officials must be able to
rely on the accuracy of the information submitted under our
environmental laws so they can protect public health and the
environment", said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in
charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural
Resources Division.  "The message here is clear: if you mislead
agencies responsible for protecting our environment, you will pay
a heavy price."

     "Ultimately, this case demonstrates the importance of strong,
innovative, and flexible state/federal enforcement program.  This
settlement guarantees that resources will be spent on protecting
and improving the environment, rather than on protracted
litigation", said Steven A. Herman, EPA Assistant Administrator for
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

     The agreement lodged today in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco, settles allegations that the company omitted sampling
data on the amount of sea life killed by the 2.5 billion gallon per
day cooling water intake system at PG&E's Diablo Canyon Nuclear
Power Plant. 
 
     The state and federal complaints, filed along with the
settlement agreement, allege that in a series of reports, PG&E
omitted data and information which would have allowed the state's
Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board to know how much damage
the plant's operations are causing to water quality and sea life.

     The complaints specifically allege that PG&E provided
misleading information to environmental regulators that measuring
the amount of small fish and other organisms at the outflow of the
cooling system was an accurate way to measure the amount of sea
life drawn into the system at the intake port.  To support this
conclusion, evidence indicates PG&E omitted more than half of the
actual test results which showed up to a 90 percent reduction in
sea life as it passes through the cooling system.  Such
measurements and reports are required by permits issued under the
state and federal Clean Water Act to ensure that companies like
PG&E use the best technology available to minimize adverse
environmental impacts of their operations.

     Court documents detail how for several years, PG&E continued
to submit misleading and inaccurate follow-up reports to state
environmental regulators and how important data was removed from
early drafts of reports.  Allegedly, in late 1991, individuals from
PG&E and its consultants discovered that the data showing heavy
losses of sea life had never been reported to state or federal
agencies. These omissions were reported to a PG&E vice president in
March of 1992, but it was not until July of 1994 that PG&E finally
turned over the data to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality
Control Board--some of it dating back to June of 1985.

     More than $6 million of the settlement payment will be used to
fund two important environmental enhancement projects: $3.7 million
for estuary protection and enhancement measures in the Morro Bay
area and $2.5 million for the state's Mussel Watch Program which
currently monitors water quality by studying changes in mussel
populations throughout the state.  California and the United States
support the use of creative settlements as a means to gain
environmental improvement from violators.
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