Santa Ana : Mobil Firm Charged After Spilling Toxin

The Orange County district attorney’s office has filed misdemeanor charges against Mobil Chemical Co. over a chemical spill that sent foul-smelling fumes into a Santa Ana industrial area last summer.

Although the spill caused no injuries, Deputy Dist. Atty. Diane Stavenhagen Kadletz said a criminal complaint was sought against the firm, a subsidiary of Mobil Oil Corp., because company officials cleaned up the spill at their plant but failed to act on the substance that had flowed into a local sewer outlet.

The incident occurred Aug. 28, when Santa Ana firefighters were called to investigate complaints of noxious odors near the Mobil plant in the 2500 block of South Birch Street.

Kadletz said firefighters traced the fumes to the Mobil plant and they discovered that an unknown amount of tertiary-dodecyl mercaptan, a chemical used in the making of polystyrene, had been spilled a day earlier while the liquid was being poured from one container to another.

“They had cleaned up what was on the floor but had not taken any action to neutralize what went down the drain,” Kadletz alleged. The smell was eliminated when firefighters poured bleach and water down the drain.

The chemical is flammable, and the sulfurous fumes emitted can be toxic when inhaled.

In the complaint, filed Thursday, company officials were ordered to appear for arraignment in Central Municipal Court on March 27, Kadletz said. The misdemeanor violation of air quality statutes carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

A spokeswoman said plant officials were unavailable for comment Friday. She said the plant produces clear plastic pellets used to make polystyrene products.