Hixson toxic emissions are down, but ‘work is not done,’ AQMD says
Toxic emissions from a Newport Beach metal finishing company have dropped significantly in the past year, but there’s still work to be done, according to air-quality officials.
Residents who live near Hixson Metal Finishing, in a section of Newport Beach that borders Costa Mesa’s Westside, shared their concerns during a South Coast Air Quality Management District meeting Thursday night.
The meeting focused on how the business at 829 Production Place emitted elevated levels of hexavalent chromium — a carcinogen commonly called Chromium-6 — into the air around the residents’ homes.
Some who attended the meeting asked whether the AQMD could force Hixson, which employs 150 people, to leave town. Agency representatives said they could not.
Others criticized the business and the AQMD for the amount of time it has taken to reduce emissions, which officials say began to rise in 2011. Thursday’s gathering was a follow-up to a public meeting in June that brought attention to the heightened Chromium-6 levels.
Michael Schwartz, one of the owners of the adjacent Newport Villa Apartments on Placentia Avenue, criticized Hixson for potentially putting about 160 of his tenants at risk.
“At what point is enough enough?” he said, motioning toward Hixson representatives. “At what point do we say these people aren’t competent? We’re talking about people’s lives here. This is not a joke.”
Hixson President Douglas Greene said the company, which has operated in the same location since 1958, has spent about $6 million over 36 months to purchase and install emissions-control equipment and filters.
“We’ve certainly been committed to that effort,” Greene said. “We’re part of the community and have been for a long time. We want to continue to be good neighbors.”
The AQMD has been monitoring the air around Hixson for decades. But when the agency collected data in 2011, it found that emissions had increased to an unacceptable level, according to AQMD staff.
If inhaled in high concentrations, Chromium-6 can cause lung, nasal and sinus cancers, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agent is often used to harden metal plating and reduce corrosion. It gained notoriety in the film “Erin Brockovich,” which chronicled an investigation into water pollution in Hinkley, a San Bernardino County community, in the 1990s.
The AQMD began working with Hixson to install filtration systems, seal spray booths and other emission-control systems. However, additional testing in 2013 revealed that emissions had again spiked.
In 2014, air-quality regulators took Hixson to the AQMD hearing board and secured an order for abatement to reduce and control emissions. The order called for Hixson to temporarily shut down operations if Chromium-6 emissions exceed a certain level, said Mohsen Nazemi, AQMD’s deputy executive officer for engineering and compliance.
AQMD monitoring instruments installed near the plant found a cancer risk of as much as 1,500 in 1 million, assuming a lifetime exposure of 30 years, according to data collected in 2013.
By the end of 2015, Hixson was able to reduce the risk to 260 in 1 million, data show. But that number is still higher than the 25 in 1 million level mandated by the AQMD.
Air-quality officials have given Hixson until March 31 to get emissions in line with AQMD standards. Greene said the company is still installing additional equipment to filter emissions.
If Hixson does not reduce its emissions, the AQMD could get a court order to prevent the business from operating.
This is not the first time Hixson has been accused of posing a danger to the community. In 1987, about 500 residents were evacuated from their homes when the business caught fire, releasing a cloud of potentially toxic fumes. The fire is considered to be one of the worst hazardous-material fires in Southern California.
“I can safely say in the last two to three years we have been visiting Hixson more than any other metal finishing company in our area,” Nazemi said. “We have no plans to pack up and leave April 1. Our work is not done.”
