Brea : Unocal Unveils Study of Ammonia-Odor Leaks

Unocal officials Tuesday outlined the results of a $250,000 study into complaints by Brea residents about ammonia smells leaking from the company’s chemical plant.

The complaints, which surfaced a year ago last month, eventually led to an investigation by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which cited the firm’s Chemicals Division for an illegal emission, fined it $1,000 and placed it on a six-month probation.

Company officials, who discussed their study during a presentation to Brea officials, pointed to mitigation measures and emergency plans enacted by the firm in the past year and other plans being considered for the future.

The company has been cited nine times in the past year for various violations, according to Arnold Stein, refinery and energy manager of the district’s enforcement division in El Monte. Brea Fire Marshal Bud Moody added that reports of ammonia releases from the plant date back many years. Between Jan. 1, 1984, and Jan. 1 of this year, he said, the Fire Department investigated 12 complaints of ammonia release.

Stein, however, noted that when the air quality district conducted tests of the air around the facility, officials “didn’t find much in regard to ammonia concentration.” Tests in February and in September showed the highest reading to be 6.8 parts per million during the summertime, which compares to a normal level of 20 to 25 parts per million, he said.

While the test results now go for review to the Orange County Department of Health Services, Unocal will continue reviewing several plans discussed in the study and has scheduled a meeting with the community on Oct. 30.

Unocal officials said they have established a procedure to internally investigate residents’ complaints.