State Temporarily Bans Liquid Toxic Waste at Casmalia Dump

The state Department of Health Services on Wednesday ordered operators of the Casmalia toxic dump in Santa Barbara County to stop accepting virtually all liquid hazardous waste by Dec. 21, because of a possible threat to public health.

As recently as three weeks ago, noxious odors forced Casmalia Elementary School officials to send children home early. Residents of Casmalia, a town of about 250 people, have long complained about headaches and eye, nose and throat irritations.

The order, which comes on the heels of mounting public protests, as well as pressure from local and state elected officials, directs the dump operator to take corrective actions.

One health department official estimated that the dump would be closed to liquid hazardous wastes for at least four to six months.

During that time, as many as 2,000 Southern California commercial and industrial customers will be forced to haul their liquid hazardous wastes elsewhere. Liquid hazardous waste shipments to Casmalia amount to 54 million gallons annually. The dump is one of only two serving Southern California that are authorized to accept many of the most hazardous liquid wastes.

In a hand-delivered letter to Casmalia Resources President Kenneth W. Hunter Jr., state Health Services Director Kenneth W. Kizer said the department is “concerned about possible adverse health effects related to airborne emissions” from the dump.

Casmalia officials did not return repeated telephone calls asking for comment. A secretary said the company planned a press conference Friday. However, Angelo Bellomo, chief of the Southern California section of the state Toxic Substances Control Division, said he had talked with Hunter on Wednesday and quoted the dump’s president as promising full cooperation in temporarily closing down liquid hazardous waste operations beginning Dec. 21.

Casmalia is one of two Class 1 hazardous waste dumps serving Southern California. As such, it is licensed to receive the broadest range of toxic chemicals allowed. The other Class 1 site is at Kettleman Hills in the western San Joaquin Valley, which itself has been charged by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with violating 129 federal environmental safety laws, including some that apply to liquid hazardous waste.

Bellomo said three other sites that are not Class 1 will be able to accept some of the less toxic wastes now going to Casmalia: the IT Corp. site in Imperial County, another in Bakersfield, and one in Buttonwillow, about 25 miles west of Bakersfield.

Bellomo said the state is also examining the possibility of trucking the wastes to eight sites in Texas.

“When you talk about redirecting waste from a facility we’ve grown so dependant on. . . . you really can’t leave anything to chance,” Bellomo said.

Department of Health Services spokeswoman Marcia Murphy said notices of the action are being sent to 2,000 industrial and commercial businesses that have used the Casmalia dump. She said notices are also being sent to all of the state’s 1,200 to 1,300 licensed waste haulers.

Among the new environmental standards the dump is obliged to meet are requirements for treating liquid hazardous waste now stored in open-air holding ponds, draining the ponds and redesigning them to prevent future problems. The state is also requiring daily air monitoring and a waste-management plan to ensure that no liquid hazardous wastes will be accepted unless specifically authorized by the state.

Kizer’s action followed a closed meeting last week in the Sacramento office of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) attended by Santa Barbara County legislators, county officials and Department of Health Services officials, including Kizer.

Casmalia dump has come under increasing criticism in Santa Barbara County. On Friday, the county filed suit to force the dump to stop accepting liquid hazardous wastes because of widespread complaints of noxious odors and adverse health effects. Previously, a $1-billion class-action suit was filed against the dump on behalf of Casmalia residents.

EPA Involved in Investigation

In addition, the EPA’s National Ground Water Task Force based in Denver is investigating possible ground water contamination beneath the 250-acre dump.

Santa Barbara County Supervisor Toru Miyoshi, an outspoken opponent of the dump, called the move by the state a “victory” for the county’s residents and warned that the time has come for metropolitan Southern California to assume its fair share of the burden for disposing of hazardous waste.

“I’m certainly hopeful that the other counties will take note and assume their jurisdictional obligations to assume their fair share of the burden for toxic waste disposal,” Miyoshi said.

Under terms of the state’s order Wednesday, the only liquid wastes not included in the ban are those intended to be burned in the dump’s small pilot wet-air oxidation unit. But that treatment is expensive and accounts for only a small percentage of the dump’s liquid hazardous waste business.

Most liquid hazardous wastes are destined for open air ponds at the dump where the chemicals are allowed to evaporate into the atmosphere or be absorbed into the ground. A natural clay barrier beneath the dump purportedly prevents the liquid from seeping into ground water.