Superfund Adds 15 Dump Sites in California

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today added 170 hazardous wastes sites, including 15 in California, to the federal Superfund priority cleanup list.

Among the 15 are the controversial Operating Industries Inc. landfill in Monterey Park that has become embroiled in the gubernatorial campaign, and several in the San Fernando Valley, where drinking water wells have been contaminated by industrial solvents.

Today’s EPA announcement brings to 703 the number of federal Superfund sites in the nation, including 34 in California.

The sites are considered to pose a serious long-term threat to human health. Superfund sites qualify for federal money for cleanup efforts.

The EPA also proposed another 45 sites for the priority list, including Waste Disposal Inc. in Santa Fe Springs. After a 60-day public comment period, the list of nominees could be added to the final priority list.

$7-Billion Cleanup Cost

Harry Seraydarian, director of the EPA’s Toxic and Waste Management Western Division, estimated that it would take more than $7 billion to clean up all the sites now on the Superfund list, known officially as the National Priority List.

Earlier this year, the state Department of Health Services, backed by Gov. George Deukmejian, sought to remove a third of the 145-acre Operating Industries dump from the list of Superfund nominees, arguing that the site was not a major threat to health. The site is owned by longtime friends of the governor who contributed more than $19,000 to his first gubernatorial campaign four years ago and $3,360 this year and who want to sell the section to developers for $7 million.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who is seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, has repeatedly accused Deukmejian, a Republican, of catering to hazardous waste polluters. But Deukmejian said he has never talked to his friends about their dump.

The 15 California sites added to the final Superfund list are: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. of Sunnyvale; Beckman Instruments, Porterville; Intel Corp., Mountain View; Intel Magnetic, Santa Clara; Intel Corp. III, Santa Clara; Louisiana-Pacific Corp., Oroville; Operating Industries Inc. landfill, Monterey Park; Raytheon Corp., Mountain View; San Fernando Valley Area I, Los Angeles; San Fernando Valley, Area II, Los Angeles/Glendale; San Fernando Valley Area III, Glendale; San Fernando Valley Area IV, Los Angeles; South Bay Asbestos (formerly known as Alviso Dumping Areas), Alviso; T. H. Agriculture and Nutrition Co. (formerly called Thompson-Hayward Chemical Co.), Fresno, and Westinghouse Electric Corp., Sunnyvale.