State Rules Toxic Landfill Can Stay Open

In a decision that will keep a major Southern California toxic-waste dump open, the state Department of Health Services ruled Friday that the Casmalia landfill poses no immediate threat to human health or the environment.

Last June, doctors and residents of the small town of Casmalia, about eight miles from Santa Maria, had urged the state to close the 250-acre landfill. Residents said their health was endangered and that ground water and the air were being contaminated.

But after reviewing more than 22,000 pages of hearing testimony as well as field investigations, the state said Friday that the facility does not present “an imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment”--the legal finding necessary before it could be closed.

The landfill, operated by Casmalia Resources Inc., is the last of two remaining toxic landfills in Southern California that are licensed to accept most kinds of hazardous waste. The other is operated by the IT Corp. in Imperial County.

Kenneth Hunter Jr., a major partner in Casmalia Resources, said Friday that he was “elated” by the decision and promised that the firm would continue its efforts to shift waste handling operations from land-filling and ponding to “processing and treatment.”

But the state’s decision drew an angry response from the opponents of the Casmalia landfill, who vowed to press their lawsuits against the dump’s owners.

“We’re outraged by the political whitewash,” said Kenneth C. McCalip, the principal of Casmalia Elementary School.

In addition, David Roe, senior counsel with the Environmental Defense Fund in San Francisco, said the state had failed to investigate evidence first raised 18 months ago that indicated possible ground-water contamination.

“It’s easy not to find problems if you don’t look,” Roe said. “The fact of the matter is they did not look at the smoking guns,” Roe added.

But State Health Director Kenneth W. Kizer said the investigation had been “very extensive.” The report said there was no convincing evidence of contamination of drinking water, ground-water contamination or medical problems that could be attributed to the landfill.

“With the exception of the association between ophthalmic (eye) and upper respiratory irritation symptoms and the odor episodes in the fall of 1984 and 1985, none of the medical evidence could be linked to the site,” the report says.

The health report also says that complaints of offensive odors had declined dramatically since the state ordered the facility in December, 1985, to stop accepting most bulk liquid wastes and to cap existing holding ponds.

In December, 1984, and again in September, 1985, the principal of Casmalia School sent pupils home because many complained of headaches, nausea, and eye, nose and throat irritations due to strong odors believed to originate at the dump, about 1 1/2 miles away.

During the department’s June public hearing in Orcutt, located about five miles from Casmalia, there were claims that several people had died of cancer or had become seriously ill.

But the department report concludes that “all available records on each of these cases has been extensively reviewed and none were credibly related to the operations of the facility.”

The report also questioned the credibility of a health effects study undertaken by private attorneys on behalf of Casmalia residents.

That study, first disclosed by Santa Monica attorney Robert Sulnick, who is representing some of the plaintiffs in the suit against Casmalia’s owners, found an abnormally high occurrence of respiratory and central nervous system problems and elevated white blood cell counts among Casmalia residents.

Sulnick refused to turn the study results over to the state, declaring that it was confidential attorney-client information. He said on Friday that he is continuing to negotiate a possible settlement with the owners of the facility. His clients are seeking damages for property losses and damage to their health.

That lawsuit is one of three pending in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.