Duarte Turns to Horses to Halt Incinerator

The city of Duarte, which is trying to block construction of a toxic waste incinerator in neighboring Irwindale, today will submit its alternative plan for an equestrian center on the site.

Duarte officials will outline the plan at a meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers and the county Department of Parks and Recreation in hopes that the two agencies that control the land will support their project and reject the incinerator. The officials will meet at 2 p.m. today at the Whittier Narrows Visitors Center in South El Monte.

The disputed property consists of 13 acres north of Foothill Boulevard, east of the San Gabriel River. It is leased by the federal government to the county as part of the Santa Fe Dam recreation area, but county officials say they have no plans to develop it.

$10-Million Incineration Plant

The city of Irwindale and its redevelopment agency are seeking the site for Omega Recovery Services Corp., which would build a $10-million incineration plant that would burn 50 tons of hazardous waste a day, including chlorinated solvents, paint sludge and oil waste.

As an incentive for the county to give up its 50-year lease, Irwindale has offered to split its projected income, including a 10% tax on the plant’s gross receipts, with the county.

Proponents of the toxic waste plant say that it is desperately needed by industry, would be operated safely and would not harm--and might even improve--air quality.

Opponents scoff at the environmental claims and insist that the plan would pose a threat to both air and ground water.

Center Would Occupy 20 Acres

The equestrian center proposed by Duarte would occupy not only the 13 acres sought for Omega but also an adjoining seven acres in Azusa that is part of the Santa Fe Dam recreation area lease.

The development would include riding arenas, stalls, parking lots and a restaurant.

Duarte officials said the development would cost $2 million to $3 million. They are studying various financing options, including the involvement of private investment and the creation of a joint-powers authority with other cities.

Jesse Duff, assistant to the city manager, said the equestrian proposal originated as an effort to block the incinerator, but “now it has taken on a life of its own.” Local equestrian groups are enthusiastically backing the project, he said.

Insurance Proposal

Duff said the Duarte plan would serve organized equestrian groups and the public.

To reduce insurance liability problems that have forced many private stables to close, the center would rent horses only to experienced riders or those who have received instruction in horsemanship skills. The center would stress education and safety, he said.

Obtaining county support for the center will be difficult, Duff said, because the toxic incinerator project is potentially lucrative for the county.

Dennis O’Meara, Omega president, said a toxic-waste incinerator would produce about $1 million a year each for Irwindale and the county. Revenue for each could increase by $3 million a year with the planned addition of three more incinerators by 1988, he said.

Seeks Change in Lease

Ralph Cryder, county parks and recreation director, has asked the Army Corps of Engineers to prepare an amendment to the Santa Fe Dam recreation area lease to exclude the disputed property.

The present lease specifies that the property must be used for recreation. The only way Irwindale can acquire the land is for the county to surrender its lease.

Neither Cryder nor county supervisors have yet fully committed themselves to the Irwindale project.

Cryder said the toxic incineration plant could provide needed income to the county Parks and Recreation Department, but added that he is willing to consider Duarte’s proposal.

Revenue Uncertain

He said revenue from the incineration plant would be uncertain even with guarantee of a site because the plant cannot open without extensive review by regulatory agencies.

Meanwhile, in Washington, two area congressmen have taken opposite sides on the issue. Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) has agreed to introduce legislation that would transfer the property to Irwindale, while Rep. David Dreier (R-La Verne) has promised to fight for the equestrian center.

Martinez said he must wait for the county to take formal action giving up its lease before he can introduce legislation directing the secretary of the Army to give the property to Irwindale.

Martinez, whose district includes Irwindale and Azusa, said the transfer could be handled as an amendment to a public works bill that has gone to a House-Senate conference committee.

Asks Mayors to Oppose Project

Dreier, whose district includes Duarte and Glendora, opposes all waste incineration projects in the San Gabriel Valley on the ground that they would increase pollution in a high-smog area.

He has written to mayors of 30 cities asking them to join in opposing the Irwindale project and has received support from the cities of Azusa, Covina, Duarte, Glendora and South El Monte.

Robert Finch, attorney for Omega, responded to Dreier’s letters by sending the same mayors a letter outlining the need for the incineration plant.

There is a growing need for this kind of incineration plant, Finch said in an interview, because new federal restrictions on disposal of hazardous waste in landfills take effect in November.

Jobs Could Be at Stake

Finch said some industries might be forced to shut down or move because of an inability to dispose of hazardous materials. “We’re talking jobs,” he said.

Finch said that federal legislation is needed to speed the process of obtaining federal land. Finch said that he knows from his own experience as secretary of health, education and welfare in the Nixon Administration that it would take at least three years to obtain the property without congressional intervention.

Omega, which is based in Whittier, last year proposed an incineration plant in the city of Bell, but the Bell City Council rejected the plan.

O’Meara said the company, which has a $2-million-a-year business recycling industrial chemicals, has looked at other sites locally and as far away as Riverside, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties.

Lack of Incinerators

Other companies are attempting to win approval for hazardous-waste incineration plants in Vernon and Carson.

O’Meara said that a number of companies incinerate their own hazardous waste in California, but the nearest commercially operated hazardous-waste incinerator open to outside companies is in Houston.

The alternatives to incineration are disposal at a landfill or the use of waste treatment technology.

O’Meara said Omega’s plant would be cleaner than any of the household trash incineration plants proposed in the San Gabriel Valley because it would handle a smaller volume and would test each load of material before burning it.

Smaller Volume of Trash

The 50 tons a day to be burned at the Omega plant contrasts with 3,000 tons of household and commercial waste that Pacific Waste Management Corp. would burn at its proposed waste-to-energy plant in Irwindale.

The county Sanitation Districts have proposed waste incineration plants that would burn up to 1,000 tons of trash daily at the Spadra landfill in Pomona and up to 10,000 tons daily at the Puente Hills landfill in Hacienda Heights.

O’Meara contended that combustion in the Omega incinerator would be so complete and its pollution control equipment would be so effective that few contaminants would be released into the air.

In fact, he said, some test burns at a research facility indicate that the air coming out of the incinerator would be cleaner than the air going in because the process would destroy contaminants that are already present in San Gabriel Valley air.

Higher Standards

A hazardous waste incinerator must meet higher standards than an ordinary waste-burning plant, he said. The federal Environmental Protection Agency will not license a hazardous-waste incinerator unless it destroys 99.99% of the material it burns, he said.

The Omega incinerator would not handle compounds high in heavy metals, infectious or radioactive wastes or known carcinogens, O’Meara said.

Mayors John C. Van Doren of Duarte, Eugene Moses of Azusa and Kenneth Prestesater of Glendora have issued a joint statement opposing the incinerator on the grounds that it would harm air quality and threaten ground water.

They charged that an earthquake fault runs through the site, and that leaks from the plant could enter ground water through the nearby San Gabriel River.

Threat to Water Quality

“Any chemical spills at the plant or from trucks entering the plant or as a result of an earthquake would reach the aquifer and degrade the water quality,” the mayors warned in their statement.

O’Meara responded that it is impossible to find any site in Southern California that is free of an earthquake risk.

But, he said, the plant would store nothing underground, the highest structure would be three stories and the system would include automatic shut-off valves.

The plant’s first incinerator would generate 3 megawatts of electricity for sale to Southern California Edison Co.

The site could accommodate three more incinerators. If all four were built, the plant could process 60,000 tons a year of hazardous waste, equivalent to about 20% of the hazardous waste created in Los Angeles County in 1983, the last year for which records are available.