Coming Soon

Lahontan Water Board Under Scrutiny After New Formal Complaint Filed

Filed today, October 12 2025 — Protect Lassen has submitted a formal complaint by email to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board documenting laboratory-confirmed herbicide contamination, a knowingly false monitoring report, and violations of state and federal environmental laws tied to W. M. Beaty & Associates and RRF Lassen-Plumas LLC.

The complaint identifies that Ross Brazil, Ryan Hilburn, and Jeff Pudlicki, President of W. M. Beaty & Associates, were all directly notified of the contamination weeks before the company submitted a monitoring report falsely claiming that “no issues were observed.” Despite this prior knowledge, the report was signed under penalty of perjury and accepted by Lahontan staff without review or verification — even though the agency had already received the laboratory data confirming contamination of a private spring, pond, and stream with the herbicide Hexazinone (Velpar DF).

The case raises serious questions about Lahontan’s integrity and oversight. Will the Regional Water Board enforce the law, or accept falsified compliance records from private timber contractors managing CalFire-funded reforestation and biomass projects?

A full article including the complete complaint, supporting evidence, correspondence, and photographs will be published soon on ProtectLassen.org.

Stay tuned for the full report and official responses.