Anaheim : Residue With PCBs Still at Salvage Yard

Almost three months after the city granted a salvage yard a reprieve from being shut down, the operation has yet to remove a 50,000-plus-ton pile of residue containing hazardous PCBs, an attorney for the business said Tuesday.

Floyd L. Farano, attorney for Orange County Steel Salvage Inc., said the company cannot get rid of the residue of shredded automobiles, because most dumps won’t take junk containing PCBs, which have the potential to cause cancer and other diseases.

Next week, Farano is scheduled to update the council on the company’s progress in getting rid of the mound, which contains nearly double the level of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls considered hazardous by the federal government.

At that time, code enforcement supervisor John Poole will present a status report listing the city-mandated conditions and whether the company has met them.

Also next week, the council is scheduled to consider the company’s request for a rehearing on its efforts to expand. The council previously refused to allow any expansion.

The council, which had threatened to close Steel Salvage, granted it a reprieve on Sept. 2, with a series of new restrictions. Among those, the council ordered the company’s owner, George Adams Jr., to dispose immediately of any new hazardous waste produced, regardless of the cost.

But Adams has been unable to dispose of that new waste, Farano said, because the state blocked its transport to an Arizona dump that isn’t licensed to receive hazardous materials. Adams is looking for a method of disposal that does not include taking the material to such a licensed landfill, which Farano said would “bankrupt” the owner.

Meanwhile, the state has sued to shut down the salvage yard, alleging that it is a threat to public health and the environment. In the Sept. 17 lawsuit, state health officials said the company was operating illegally.