Salvage Yard Can Keep Waste Pile 30 Days

The Anaheim City Council on Tuesday gave a steel salvage firm 30 days to continue stockpiling about 40,000 tons of shredded car and appliance residue containing toxic PCBs.

On a 4-1 vote, the council said that Orange County Steel Salvage Inc. can continue operations provided that no appliances, thought to be the source of PCBs, are shredded for scrap.

“What we are doing is buying some time and hopefully not putting any more PCBs in there,” said Mayor Don Roth after a lengthy public hearing.

But Councilman Irv Pickler, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said: “The PCBs are still there, they are still creating a problem. . . . If we let them continue 30 days more, we may have another 30,000 tons on that site.”

The waste pile, described Tuesday as “the size of a football field and 35 feet high,” originally was deemed marginally hazardous by California health officials in 1984 because of elevated lead levels.

State tests have since confirmed that it also contains PCB levels as much as double the legal limit.

Known Cancer Cause

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are known to cause cancer in rats and mice and liver damage in humans. Their manufacture was discontinued in the United States in 1976, but appliance manufacturers were allowed to use the chemical insulator in capacitors--electronic components--until 1979.

Salvage yard owner George Adams Jr. said he was pleased that he could continue to operate.

Disposal industry spokesmen congratulated Adams. They told the council that cars and appliances would be dumped on city streets and in vacant lots if Adams was shut down.

Adams said he was confident that further testing would show an average level of PCBs below the state hazardous action level of 50 parts per million.

If so, Adams and his lobbyist, former Orange County Supervisor Philip Anthony, said they hoped to win approval to dump the waste in a local landfill. However, a state toxics enforcement officer said Tuesday that he was still awaiting a federal decision on how the waste must be disposed of.

James McNally, who oversees the salvage yard case for the state Department of Health Services’ toxics unit in Los Angeles, told the council that, regardless of the PCBs, the waste is considered hazardous because of its lead levels.

McNally also said Adams was in violation of state law for storing hazardous waste on his property for more than 90 days.

Decision Is Pending

The state has asked the Orange County district attorney’s office to consider criminal prosecution for the illegal storage. A decision is pending.

McNally said Tuesday that if Adams adds non-appliance residue to the existing mound, state officials may insist that he shovel off the new layers for any further testing for PCBs.

After months of negotiating with Adams to try to get the waste removed voluntarily, an exasperated McNally said after the council meeting: “Mr. Adams has not spent one dime in trying to remove this hazardous material from his facility.

“Instead, he spends all his money on consultants and lobbying efforts to find ways to get around complying with directives that were as clear as day two years ago.”