Bermite Asks Hearing Delay, Will Lose OK to Burn Explosive Waste

A hearing on Bermite’s request to continue burning explosive waste at its plant in Saugus has been put off for two months at the company’s request, meaning that Bermite will not be able to burn waste after its current variance expires Friday.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing board agreed Tuesday to reschedule the hearing to March 11 to give the defense contractor more time to develop an alternative waste disposal method.

Larry Bohanan, a Bermite vice president, said the prohibition on burning will not pose a problem because of a lull in production. He said the plant, at 22116 W. Soledad Canyon Road, will generate no more than a couple of pounds of explosive waste per day in the coming weeks.

Bermite has been granted a series of open-burning variances during the past 1 1/2 years on the condition that it continue searching for a permanent disposal method more acceptable to the air district. The last variance was granted by the hearing board on a 3-2 vote, with some district officials expressing impatience at the company’s failure to come up with an alternative method.

Warning to Bermite

Tuesday’s delay averted a possible showdown over the lack of a detailed plan. Air district lawyer Bill Freedman, who has opposed the granting of variances, said the hearing board had warned Bermite in November that the company would not get a variance the next time if it “couldn’t show them anything new and promising.”

Bohanan said Tuesday that the company was “just not ready to present the package today.”

Bohanan said Bermite expects to bring before the hearing board in March a plan that will involve installation of waste-burning equipment. He said Bermite recently applied to the district for a permit for a device that would not be an incinerator but would control emissions from burning waste.

An air district spokesman said the district had not reviewed the permit application.

Bermite’s current variance has allowed the company to dispose of up to 600 pounds of explosive waste per week.

Bermite, a subsidiary of Whittaker Corp. of Los Angeles, makes explosive and pyrotechnic devices for the military, including decoy flares that are used to lure heat-seeking missiles away from fighter planes.