Substance Dumped Off Freeway Found to Be Harmless

The gummy white substance found dumped down an embankment along the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar was not hazardous and appears to have been a byproduct or waste from cooking oil or soap, officials said Wednesday.

Discovery of the material Tuesday morning at the junction of the Golden State and San Diego freeways led officials to order a precautionary removal of soil and to temporarily close truck lanes to the northbound Golden State Freeway.

Treva Miller, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which owns some of the land on which the material was dumped, said DWP chemists have determined that the substance contains a fatty acid present in certain soaps and vegetable and cooking oils.

A spokesman for the California Highway Patrol said the material “could very easily have been restaurant waste.”