Salvage Firm Shipping Its Wastes to Arizona Illegally, Officials Say

An Anaheim salvage firm, whose owner promised city officials under threat of closure this week to continue shipping its wastes to an Arizona landfill, has been barred since early this month from that state’s landfills, Arizona authorities said Friday.

If George Adams Jr., owner of Orange County Steel Salvage Inc., is transporting the wastes to Arizona, he is doing it without the consent of that state’s Health Services Department and the office that regulates the Colorado River Indian Tribe Landfill, according to officials of both of those agencies.

Anaheim City Councilman Fred Hunter said Friday that the council would have voted to shut down the firm if members had known Adams might have been “hauling (the waste) away and dumping it illegally in another state.” Hunter voted with the majority of the council Tuesday to postpone a final decision on whether to close the business.

The company has been under fire from city and state officials because of its growing pile of more than 50,000 tons of shredded wastes containing toxic PCBs.

When the council voted to allow the company to stay in operation, Hunter said, its members “were under the impression that all the new stuff was being hauled away. Then the question is, where is he taking it?”

Claims Compliance

Floyd Farano, an attorney for the company, said that he was not aware of any problems with Arizona authorities.

“To the best of my knowledge, (Adams is) in compliance with the court order,” Farano said. “I don’t believe he did lie.”

Referring to a court order requiring Steel Salvage to haul away newly generated refuse, Farano said: “He cannot afford to be in violation of that court order, and whatever he has to do will be done to make sure he is in compliance with that court order.”

The company has given the city copies of documents showing that it has been regularly taking the shredded waste--as late as Feb. 13--from the Anaheim site to Arizona landfills, Richard LaRochelle, an Anaheim senior code enforcement officer said Friday.

Adams has been transporting the waste to Arizona because California has more stringent criteria regulating lead levels and the waste does not meet California standards, California Deputy Atty. Gen. Donald A. Robinson explained earlier this week.

Don’t Meet Standards

But preliminary test results show that the lead levels in the waste do not meet Arizona standards either, an official said.

Tibaldo Canez, hazardous and solid waste inspections manager for Arizona’s Health Services Department, said that preliminary test results show high lead levels in the waste Adams has been taking to Arizona landfills.

Three out of four truckloads tested in January had concentrations of lead of at least 11 parts per million, according to Canez. One of the truckloads tested showed lead levels in the high 20s per million. Arizona allows concentrations of no more than five parts per million. Studies have indicated that long-term exposure to lead, a heavy metal, can affect the nervous system. Steel Salvage has challenged the results and more testing is under way, Canez added.

“I’ve told George we can’t approve any more waste coming until we can sort this thing out,” Canez said. “It’s been at least a couple of weeks since I told him we couldn’t accept any more.”

“I’m not saying he couldn’t go to some little rural landfill somewhere and try to sneak in a load,” Canez said. But landfills accepting Steel Salvage’s waste would “be in trouble” with the state, he added.

Not Welcome, Adams Told

Last year, Adams transported some wastes to the Colorado River Indian Tribe Landfill in Arizona, which is not regulated by the state. But Conner Byestewa, the environmental protection and land development officer for the Indian Tribe Landfill, said he also has told Adams that he is not welcome there.

“I’m not going to accept (the Steel Salvage waste) until the state of Arizona, the State of California and EPA” give their approval, Byestewa said.

Adams could not be reached for comment Friday.

On Tuesday, Farano pledged to the City Council that 1,000 tons of waste a month would continue to be shipped off the East Frontera Road property. The 1,000 tons do not contain PCBs. The firm no longer is allowed to shred items with parts containing polychlorinated biphenyls, a carcinogen.

Because there is a court hearing next month in a state health department lawsuit against Steel Salvage, the council Tuesday postponed a vote on a proposal to shut down the business. It was not the first time the council had given the business a temporary reprieve.

But council members, who have expressed growing irritation with the company’s failure to get rid of the wastes, made it clear that the company was to abide by guidelines set last year. Those guidelines included the requirement to haul off 1,000 tons a month.

Pickler Not Surprised

Councilman Irv Pickler, who has consistently urged his colleagues to close down the company, said Friday that he was not surprised by the new developments involving the only Orange County company that shreds old cars.

“I’ve said this right along,” Pickler said. “I think this man, in any shape, way or form, is going to try to keep his business going to the detriment of everyone’s concern.

“I’m hoping that the council, if they had known he is circumventing the regulatory agencies, would have turned him down,” said Pickler, the only council member who voted Tuesday against allowing the business to remain open.

Mayor Pro Tem Miriam Kaywood said Tuesday that she went along with the majority in the 3-1 vote to grant an extension to avoid a deadlock.

Hunter said he will side with Kaywood and Pickler to pull the company’s permit on March 17 unless a March 12 court hearing produces an agreement between the company and California officials.

“That’s it for me,” Hunter said. “For me, this is the last go-around. Period.”