Firm Cited Over Dumping Closes

A Northridge manufacturer ceased operations Thursday, one day after its waste discharge permit was revoked by the Los Angeles Board of Public Works and its access lines to city sewers were severed.

Lai Circuits Inc., a circuit-board manufacturer, could have continued operations by having a registered hauling company dispose of its waste. But the company decided to close, said Grace Yu, an assistant to company owner San Lai.

The firm, which had about 20 employees, has no plans to open anywhere else, Yu said.

“Everybody has been laid off,” Yu said. “We are trying to cancel our orders.”

At a hearing Wednesday, the company asked the board for permission to use city sewers for another four to five weeks so that it could fill outstanding orders and avoid losses it estimated could be $60,000. But board members unanimously denied the request, saying they feared there would be further violations.

After a raid by an environmental task force Dec. 19, Lai Circuits was cited by the Bureau of Sanitation for discharging waste with illegally high concentrations of heavy metals and acids into the sewer.

Lai Circuits was cited in 1984 by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for improper gas discharges, district spokesman Ron Ketcham said. The company was accused of creating a public nuisance by emitting a hazardous gas from its hot-oil fusing tank, Ketcham said.

The firm pleaded no contest to a criminal charge of creating a public nuisance. It was fined $1,020 and placed on one-year probation.