L.A. Cuts Off Sewer Service to Chemical Plant

Within hours of a ruling by the city Board of Public Works, workers dug up a street in South Los Angeles on Wednesday and plugged a sewer line connected to a small industrial chemical manufacturer accused of dumping toxic chemicals into the sewer system.

Board members voted 3 to 1 to revoke the industrial waste permit issued to Four Star Chemical Co. after an hourlong hearing at City Hall. A Bureau of Sanitation crew was immediately dispatched to 5701 Compton Ave. to block the line.

The board subsequently passed the case to the city attorney’s office for possible legal action.

Loss of the waste permit will not put Four Star out of business because private haulers may be hired to dispose of unwanted chemicals, said Jerry Ulrich, president of the firm, which makes soaps and industrial solvents.

Ulrich declined to comment on specific charges presented to the board. But Dave Valencia, Four Star’s general manager, told the commissioners that the firm had hired consultants and had developed a plan to meet the requirements of the city code.

The board rejected the proposal as tardy in view of evidence that Four Star had received notices of violations six times from last December until Oct. 15, when members of the multi-agency Los Angeles Hazardous Waste Strike Force raided the company’s plant and took color photographs of alleged violations.

The photos were presented to the board on Wednesday, along with a report that the Bureau of Sanitation took 21 samples of sewer wastes at Four Star since last December and found that all of them violated regulations to control toxic wastes.

Detected chemicals included perchlorethylene, methylene chloride, toulene PCE and trichloroethane, according to several violation notices issued to Four Star.

Commissioner Steve Harrington said after Wednesday’s hearing that the board just “acts on the facts.” He added, “If what they tell us is damaging, it has to be corrected or the next generation is going to suffer.”

At least 16 firms have had their sewer lines disconnected for violating city regulations since 1982, according to a board spokesman.