Calderon Attacks Attempt to Reduce Superfund Listing

Assemblyman Charles M. Calderon (D-Alhambra) has accused state and city officials of jeopardizing public health by trying to keep a portion of a Monterey Park dump site off the federal Superfund list in order to preserve the property for commercial development.

Calderon said he will ask the state auditor general’s office, the Legislature’s investigative arm, to look into the way the state has handled the proposed Superfund listing of the Operating Industries dump.

“I should say that I don’t have any evidence of wrongdoing,” Calderon said. But, noting that the site is being sought for a $60-million commercial development, he added, “It smells because there’s big money involved.”

City and state officials have previously said that their attempts to reduce the area targeted for Superfund assistance would not affect public health and that their plan would, in fact, aid the dump cleanup.

Excluding 45 Acres

The assemblyman’s attack was directed at efforts by Monterey Park and the state to persuade the federal Environmental Protection Agency to exclude 45 acres from the 180-acre Operating Industries site from the proposed Superfund list.

State health and city officials agree that a 135-acre landfill, which lies south of the Pomona Freeway and was closed in 1984, should be on the Superfund list. But they contend that a 45-acre parcel that lies north of the freeway and has not been used as a dump since 1952 should not be included on the list.

State health officials have said they erred on the boundary description in 1982 when they nominated the 180-acre Monterey Park dump for the list of hazardous waste sites eligible for federal funds for toxic cleanup. The site is on a proposed Superfund list that is to be made final in February. The 135-acre dump and the 45-acre parcel are under the same ownership and were divided when the Pomona Freeway was built in the 1960s.

Calderon said the original boundary description should be kept and the state is erring now by trying to shrink the site.

The 45-acre parcel contains an auto salvage yard, an asphalt recycling plant and a storage area for trash trucks. The city of Monterey Park is working with Transpacific Development Co. of Torrance on a $60-million project that would redevelop the property by building five auto dealerships, a cluster of six-story office buildings, retail shops and restaurants. But Transpacific officials say that if the EPA puts the property on the Superfund list they will abandon the project because of liability problems.

City Manager Lloyd de Llamas said last week that consultants have conducted geological studies and bored holes into the site to look for toxic materials. He said the property was never used for the dumping of hazardous waste and studies confirm that the site does not have the kind of toxic materials needed to qualify for Superfund listing. State health officials say any cleanup work can be handled by the property owner.

But Keith Takata, who is in charge of Superfund cleanup programs at the EPA regional office in San Francisco, said a two-year investigation is needed to fully explore the site. Until further studies are done, he said, the property should be on the Superfund list.

Health Risk Ignored?

Calderon said possible explanations for the state’s decision-making process on the Superfund listing “range from gross ineptitude to potential illegalities.” And he said Monterey Park is so blinded by the prospect of a lucrative commercial development on the property that it seems willing to ignore the health risk.

Monterey Park Mayor Rudy Peralta said last week that he resents the suggestion by Calderon that the city would jeopardize public health in its greed for commercial development.

“I’ve been trying for a year to get him to see our side of it,” he said.

Peralta said there is enough data available to demonstrate that the 45-acre site north of the freeway is safe for development and does not belong on the Superfund list.

“We’ve conducted borings and we have all the proof,” he said.

But Calderon said the site has lead and organic hazardous wastes “at levels sufficient to pose a threat to human health.” State and city officials say the soil contaminated with lead will be excavated as part of the commercial project and that any other cleanup problems can be handled by the property owner. The lead and hazardous organic wastes were revealed during site analysis conducted for the city. City official contend that the lead is a result of paint dumped at the site and that the organic substances are a minor problem.

City Manager de Llamas said the commercial development is not only of economic importance to the city but would also speed the cleanup of the neighboring dump. He said the sale of the 45 acres, which is owned by an affiliate of Operating Industries Inc., would generate about $7 million for cleanup work.

Back Monterey Park

Both the state health director and the deputy secretary of the state Health and Welfare Agency have made separate trips to Washington to back Monterey Park’s position in meetings with high-ranking EPA officials. Monterey Park also has enlisted the help of Sens. Alan Cranston and Pete Wilson and Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park). Martinez said inclusion of the 45-acre site is “ridiculous” and Kathy Files, legislative assistant to Cranston, said that the senator advocates inclusion of the 135-acre dump on the Superfund list but has seen nothing to justify including the 45 acres.

The latest meeting with EPA officials, in Washington on Jan. 7, also was attended by opponents of the change, including an aide to Calderon and representatives of the City of Montebello and a homeowners group.

The Operating Industries dump is bordered by Montebello, and most of the homeowners who have complained about odors and other dump problems live in that city.

Montebello City Administrator Joseph Goeden said his city sides with regional EPA officials in San Francisco who want to keep the 45-acre site on the Superfund list until the property is proved safe.

Site for Leachate Plant

Montebello also wants to keep the 45-acre site available for a plant to treat leachate, liquid generated by decomposing garbage, and for other cleanup work. The cleanup effort includes a plant run by GSF Energy Inc., formerly Getty Synthetic Fuels, which draws methane gas out of the landfill and processes it for sale to the Southern California Gas Co.

Last week, over the objections of Montebello and a number of homeowners, the Monterey Park City Council approved a conditional use permit allowing GSF Energy to stop producing gas for sale and instead use the landfill gas as fuel to generate electricity for Southern California Edison Co. Company officials said production of electricity will be more profitable. The gas is created by the decomposition of garbage.

Opponents wanted the council to require GSF Energy to move the plant, which is situated at the western edge of the dump, to the 45 acres north of the freeway or to some other location, away from residents.

‘Relocate the People’

“If you cannot relocate the plant, please relocate the people,” said Samuel D. Villalobos, who lives near the dump on Via Palermo in Montebello. Another Montebello resident, Bob D. Quan, said noise and vibrations from the GSF Energy plant have caused his family to lose sleep, undergo emotional and physical stress and worry about health and safety.

GSF Energy officials said that a plant to produce electricity would be quieter, meet air quality requirements and operate safely. The renovated plant would emit higher levels of oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide, but less sulfur dioxide and hydrocarbons than the present plant, according to a GSF Energy report. The company must obtain permits from the South Coast Air Quality Management District and other regulatory agencies before construction can begin.

James T. Aidukas, manager of projects engineering for GSF Energy, said relocating the plant across the freeway would require the installation of pipes over or under the freeway to transport the landfill gas. This would make the project technically difficult and financially infeasible, he said.

The council voted 3 to 2 to issue a conditional-use permit for the plant conversion at the present location. City Councilman David Almada voted against the permit after asking for a 30-day delay to try to work out a compromise with GSF Energy, homeowners and the City of Montebello. Councilwoman Lily Lee Chen said she could not vote for the permit because the city lacks the expertise to regulate the plant. Chen said she was also upset by statements by GSF Energy officials that they would shut down the plant for financial reasons unless they won a permit to produce electricity.

Says Threat Imposed

“I do not appreciate a threat being imposed on me,” she said.

But Mayor Peralta said, “I don’t feel like we’ve been threatened. The Getty people laid it on the line and gave us honest answers.”

And Councilmen G. Monty Manibog and Cam Briglio said landfill gas must be removed and there is no practical alternative to the GSF Energy plan.

Briglio blamed Montebello for allowing homes to be built near the dump and said Monterey Park has been unfairly assigned responsibility for the dump’s problems. He said Montebello “dealt the cards and we’re playing them.”