This past week could end up being ed as a pivot point in authorities’ response to the dire sewage crisis affecting an increasingly large part of coastal South San Diego County. The Tuesday announcement that the California Legislature had unanimously approved a resolution urging President Joe Biden and Congress to immediately address the negative effects of having millions of gallons of untreated sewage from Tijuana constantly coming ashore — and urging Biden to declare the problem to be a national emergency — felt historic. So did the confirmation Thursday that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lead a t investigation into the health impacts of the sewage nightmare.
Or the past week could be ed as the worst example yet of politicians getting up the hopes of San Diegans desperate for relief from a problem that could quickly be fixed with adequate funding and leadership. Those in the Biden White House and federal bureaucracy who have long thought a five-year timetable to fix the sewage disaster is reasonable won’t necessarily be swayed by the Legislature’s action. For years, Gov. Gavin Newsom has failed our community on this issue. Why would he step up now? It’s easy to imagine the sewage crisis dragging on well into the 2030s as repairs miss deadlines and as the sewage spills take an ever-greater health toll on residents — and begin to have an even bigger economic toll, such as reducing the value of homes in affected areas that are most families’ biggest assets.
This is why it’s time to shift the focus on the failed federal response to our ordeal to the two finalists to become the next president on Jan. 20. Will Vice President Kamala Harris stick to Joe Biden’s game plan and the White House in inexplicably insisting that what’s going on doesn’t qualify as an emergency? If Donald Trump returns to the White House, will he care more about this problem then he did last time? Yes, the Trump istration backed appropriating $300 million for repairs — but solely to win votes in 2019 for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, his high-priority trade pact.
The Union-Tribune Editorial Board will pose these questions to the Harris and Trump campaigns in coming days. We hope many other journalists do so as well. The federal government’s unconscionable refusal to protect so many San Diegans from a readily fixed threat shouldn’t just be considered a national story. After 1,000 straight days of beach closures, it’s a national scandal.
