From signonsandiego.com:

SeaWorld in San Diego may become the first business in the United States to obtain a pollution discharge permit for exploding fireworks over a body of water

The staff of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, a state agency charged with enforcing the federal Clean Water Act, is recommending the first-of-its-kind permit to ensure no harm is occurring to Mission Bay. The boards directors will consider adopting the permit after a public hearing set for Dec. 12.

The proposed permit would apply only to SeaWorld, which has staged thousands of fireworks shows over the bays southeastern quadrant since 1984. Other fireworks displays, such as those sponsored by cities and nonprofit groups for July 4th, would not be affected.

However, the permit is significant because it highlights an emerging trend to more strictly regulate all sorts of compounds, such as copper from vehicle brake pads, that become suspended in the air and eventually pollute waterways.

SeaWorld applied for the permit last year to avoid being sued by the environmental group San Diego Coastkeeper. The groups leaders said a permit requiring mandatory monitoring is necessary to gauge whether long-term use of fireworks is affecting the bay. The regional board staff reached the same conclusion, but only after receiving a green light from its attorneys, who spent months researching the legal foundation for such a permit.

“This is setting an important precedent that could have far-reaching impacts,” said Bruce Reznik, Coastkeepers executive director.

Officials at the federal Environmental Protection Agencys regional office in San Francisco confirmed that San Diegos water-quality agency has the authority to issue such a permit.

Nancy Yoshikawa, an EPA environmental scientist, agreed that San Diegos regional board is entering uncharted territory.

“I dont know of any other clean water permits in the country for fireworks displays,” she added.

Few scientific studies exist that assess the effect of fireworks on water quality.

Under the discharge permit, SeaWorld would be required to test for 41 toxins and metals in the water and bay sediment at four locations twice a year.

While Reznik argued that the proposed testing regimen isnt stringent enough, SeaWorld officials said it was too much.

The regional boards staff says the permit is a logical precautionary safeguard.

“Pollutants from fireworks displays could concentrate in the sediments of Mission Bay,” said Brian Kelley, a senior water-quality engineer. “The permit would at least provide us with a mechanism to monitor it and ensure it doesnt have any effects.”

Fireworks typically contain aluminum, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, copper, nitrates, sulfates, and perchlorates. If these accumulate on the bottom of the bay, marine life could be harmed, Kelley said.

The state allows the theme park up to 150 fireworks shows per year, but SeaWorld typically stages 110 to 120 annually.

SeaWorld officials say five years of previous monitoring required by the state Coastal Commission found no evidence that the parks fireworks were causing pollutants to accumulate at harmful levels at the bottom of the bay, much of which is less than 10 feet deep.

The fireworks shows are exempt from county air pollution regulations.

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