Consensus to Be Asked for County Role in Toxin Plan

Orange County officials this month will begin circulating a politically sensitive plan for long-range management of toxic wastes in an attempt to find safe and acceptable sites for at least three treatment or storage facilities for locally generated hazardous materials.

A draft of a hazardous-waste management plan will be presented Thursday to the Orange County Chamber of Commerce and submitted Aug. 21 to a county advisory commission on waste issues before being sent to the Board of Supervisors for review next month.

Start of Yearlong Process

Karen Peters, senior staff analyst for the county’s Hazardous Materials Program office, said Tuesday it is just the beginning of a yearlong process. The goal is to develop a consensus plan for handling more than 130,000 tons of hazardous waste generated in Orange County annually as toxics disposal sites elsewhere in California are closing.

In 1990, disposal of untreated toxic wastes will be banned by federal regulations.

“If we don’t do something soon, the incidence of illegal dumping is going to increase and small businesses that have no way to dispose of their waste will be severely impacted,” Peters said.

Otherwise, she said, “the costs will be borne by citizens in the declining quality of their environment and local government eventually will be forced to pay for cleanup.”

Orange County is the fifth-largest generator of toxic waste among California counties, but it has no disposal facility within its borders.

A so-called regional “fair-share” doctrine was adopted last year by Orange County supervisors when they joined two cities and five other counties to form the Southern California Hazardous Management Authority.

Orange County’s fair share would be a treatment plant, an incinerator and a toxic-waste transfer station where hazardous materials would be collected for storage up to 90 days before shipment to a treatment facility.

Sites in Several Jurisdictions

Under the fair-share doctrine, the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego and the counties of Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and San Diego also have agreed to find sites in their jurisdictions for a variety of collection, treatment and disposal facilities.

The treatment facility for Orange County that is recommended by the regional authority will be capable of removing toxic materials from liquids, much like a treatment plant now used to remove acids and heavy metals from water beneath the Stringfellow Acid Pits near Riverside. The resulting purified water can be sent through local sewer lines.

The recommended rotary kiln-style incinerator will be capable of burning a wide variety of toxic materials--solids, sludges, liquids and some gasses. With pollution-control equipment, toxic gasses generated by the burning process can be eliminated from air emissions. A residue requiring separate disposal would be left over in the process.

‘Not in My Backyard’

But without full public review and comment on general policies before specific sites and treatment methods are considered, county officials fear the “not-in-my-backyard” syndrome will scuttle any proposed facilities before plans leave the drawing boards.

To educate public officials, business leaders and people in the community to one of the most pressing problems of the 1980s, the draft plan is being circulated to ensure full public review and comment before any site is considered for a toxic-waste facility, Peters said.

But in a county that has been unable for years to find politically acceptable sites for a new jail or a trash landfill, many county officials say finding locations for hazardous waste facilities will be an uphill battle.