Anaheim Firm Agrees to Pay $3,000 in Toxic Chemical Spill

From a Times Staff Writer An Anaheim manufacturer of printed circuit boards has agreed to pay more than $3,000 in fines and investigative costs in connection with an April 4, 1985, spill of a toxic chemical used in a production process.

Cal-Flex Inc. was charged with the unsafe storage and illegal discharge of used cupric chloride into a municipal gutter outside its plant in the 1200 block of North Lance Lane in Anaheim, Deputy Dist. Atty. Diane Stavenhagen Kadletz said.

In a settlement reached Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court, Cal-Flex Inc. agreed to pay $2,000 in penalties sought under the state Health and Safety Code. The firm also agreed to reimburse the Orange County Health Care Agency for investigative costs totaling $1,059.

Kadletz said an uncovered 55-gallon drum at the Cal-Flex plant was apparently knocked over by a trash truck last April 4, sending the spent liquid flowing off the site into a gutter. Coincidentally, a Health Care Agency investigator passing by saw a Cal-Flex employee scooping up the blue-gray liquid in buckets and stopped to check.

The liquid removed from the gutter was subsequently poured improperly on a flower bed at the rear of the Cal-Flex facility, according to the complaint.

The uncovered drum of cupric chloride was among several properly capped drums stored at the facility for recycling.

The company has maintained the spill was not its fault, but that of the trash truck driver. Kadletz, however, said state hazardous waste control laws prohibit the improper storage and accidental disposal of toxic waste.