Tustin Firm Fined Record $63,802 in Spill

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board imposed a record $63,802 in fines and cleanup costs Friday on a Tustin office furniture manufacturer for the accidental discharge of 13,500 gallons of paint residue into a flood control channel last May.

It is the largest fine levied in California against an illegal discharger since regional boards were empowered in January to impose civil penalties, a spokeswoman for the state Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento said Friday.

“This is really a landmark day,” board member Timothy Johnson said of the settlement agreement with Steelcase Inc. He said the fine puts potential violators on notice that they will be dealt with harshly.

The agreement calls for Steelcase to pay $40,000 in civil penalties and reimburse seven state and local agencies for $23,802 in costs incurred in the cleanup and investigation of the spill that contaminated 490,000 gallons of water on Memorial Day weekend.

Under the law, authored by state Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose), maximum penalties of $10 per gallon discharged, or $135,000, could have been assessed above actual cleanup costs.

Initially, the regional board’s executive officer, James Anderson, had wanted a total fine of $123,800 in civil penalties. But Anderson said he recommended accepting the lower Steelcase settlement offer because the discharged mixture of latex paint and water was not toxic, did not harm wildlife or vegetation and did not contaminate drinking water supplies.

Anderson said it was also a recognition of the “very responsible” behavior of Steelcase officials, who came forward to claim responsibility and immediately took charge to remove the contaminated water from the channel.

The milky substance, first thought to be machine oil, was spotted by firefighters riding by the Barranca flood control channel in Tustin on the afternoon of Sunday, May 26. The spill, which occurred sometime between noon on May 25 and the early morning hours of May 26, was caused by the combination of a leaking valve and a plugged sewer line.

Cleanup crews worked around the clock, diking the channel with sandbags and pumping out the contaminated water, while county Environmental Management Agency investigators tried to find the source of the spill.

Steelcase officials, back to work Tuesday the 28th after the long holiday weekend, realized the spill had come from their plant and reported it to the regional board that morning. Workers at the plant on Warner Avenue actually had been trying to stop the leak over the weekend, and had called in vacuum pumping crews. But Steelcase Vice President and General Manager James Delaney said Friday that no one realized paint residues had flowed off the property into a nearby storm drain.

‘Once we realized that was our stuff (in the channel), we immediately called the state Regional Water Quality Control Board,” Delaney said.

Delaney stressed that the spill was 86% water, and only 14% water-soluble latex paint.

He said the Grand Rapids-based company spent about $160,000 on cleanup and installation of a new sewer line to correct the leak. (The company is already in the process of cleaning up an unrelated underground pipe leak of 3,000 gallons of solvent on the property under the supervision of the regional water board.)

Delaney ‘Astounded’

After all that, Delaney said he was “astounded” when he received Anderson’s initial recommendation of $123,800 in fines and assessments for the spill, and immediately tried to negotiate a settlement.

“It was an immense number for a company that made every effort to clear up a problem caused by an accidental valve failure,” Delaney said. “We thought this thing was behind us. Believe me, our posture was to clean it up and cooperate. We were given a completely clean bill of health on Wednesday morning (May 29).”

Even the reduced amount is a surprise to Steelcase officials. But Delaney said Friday, “You just have to take it in stride and go on.”

The company will pay the $40,000 fine into a state cleanup and abatement account. Of the remaining $23,800, to be split among several agencies, $15,718 will repay the state account for what was spent on cleanup and investigation by the regional board. The remainder will go to the Irvine Ranch Water District, the cities of Irvine and Santa Ana, the state Department of Fish and Game and the County of Orange.

Delaney said it has not been determined whether insurance for the 1,000-employee plant established in 1972 will cover the cleanup costs.

Other Board Action

In other action Friday, the regional board issued a cleanup order to Fluor Corp., which allows the company to begin treating ground water contaminated with gasoline that leaked from an underground pipeline several years ago.

As much as 6,000 gallons of gasoline are estimated to have leaked into the brackish ground water beneath Fluor’s corporate headquarters in Irvine. The water board staff said the contaminants are floating atop brackish ground water, but pose no risk to drinking water supplies.

Although the leak was detected several years ago and ultimately repaired, the discharge into the ground water was not discovered until February, 1984, by company officials monitoring for evidence of such contamination.

The cleanup order requires the company to treat the contaminated water to remove toxic substances of benzene, toluene and xylene.

Fluor’s director of facilities, Alfred L. Pipkin, said the cleanup, expected to be finished within six months, will begin Monday.

Fluor spokesman Rick Maslin said the cleanup measures are estimated to cost the company about $150,000, not including the salaries of employees working on the project.

Some board members were concerned that the sale of the property and impending development plans for the site might hinder cleanup efforts. But Pipkin said he was confident that work would be finished before any development occurred.

Board chairman Philip Maurer thanked Pipkin for the company’s efforts.

“It seems to me you have showed a willingness to cooperate,” Maurer said. “We appreciate your willingness to do that.”