Salvage Yard Told It Can Stay Open With Toxic Pile in Place

After a public hearing, the Anaheim City Council on Monday voted 3 to 1 to allow a controversial auto-shredding plant to stay in business even though it has no solution for disposing of 50,000 tons of waste containing highly toxic PCBs.

The council majority said nothing would be gained by revoking the city’s operations permit for Orange County Steel Salvage Inc. Council members Fred Hunter, Miriam Kaywood and Mayor Ben Bay instead voted for a modified permit that requires the auto shredder to dispose of “new” waste accumulated since Jan. 6.

Councilman Irv Pickler, who cast the lone negative vote, argued that the move wasn’t enough and said some way must be found to remove the “old” 50,000-ton pile of waste laden with PCBs in excess of federal safety levels.

“I don’t want to see that old pile (of PCB-tainted waste) to sit there another two years,” said Pickler. “I’m concerned about the health and welfare of the citizens of Anaheim.”

Shredded Cars, Appliances

At the center of the debate Tuesday was the 50,000 tons of shredded residue of old cars and appliances that have accumulated at the site since 1984. In January, 1986, state health officials determined that the waste pile contained PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), a chemical that causes cancer in animals and liver damage to humans. Later testing showed that the average level of PCBs far exceeded the federal maximum of 50 parts per million.

George Adams Jr., who with his father owns the shredding company, testified before the council that he wants to remove the tons of old waste but that money was a problem. Adams said that because the waste is now officially classified as tainted with PCBs, it can only be disposed of at one licensed site in the state--in the Kettleman Hills of Kings County. The cost would be about $18 million--more than the shredding plant is worth, according to Adams.

Adams noted that his company has even been unable to remove recent, untainted waste because the State of Arizona last month halted his shipments to a dump there.

Because the plant could no longer dispose of any of its waste, new or old, California officials earlier this month secured a court order shutting down shredding operations, which led to layoffs of 30 of Steel Salvage’s 36 employees. That order still remains in effect, Deputy Atty. Gen. Donald Alvin Robinson said at Tuesday’s hearing.

State Seeks Solution

Robinson said the order won’t be lifted until the auto shredder finds a legal way to dispose of its “new” waste--material shredded in 1987. But Robinson also said the attorney general’s office wants to find an overall solution that would include disposal of the 50,000 tons of PCB-tainted waste.

But Adams said that unless the company is allowed to start its shredding work again, it can’t make any money to pay for the waste removal. He said that since the court order, all his company has been able to do is to crush and flatten old cars at the 6.4-acre company yard at Frontera Street and Newkirk Road.

Hunter said he agreed with Adams that shutting the company down would only worsen its money problem.

“What do we do now with Mr. Adams?” Hunter asked the council. “His company, land, wife and children are not going to come to $18 million.”

The $18-million price tag on removing the “old” waste was an estimate from the state Department of Health Services. James McNally, a state health official, testified that the state already has allocated $18 million to pay for removal of the 50,000 tons of waste if the company is unable to do so. McNally said that if the state has to remove the waste, it will try to recover the money from Orange County Steel Salvage.

Would Walk Away

Adams has said he would walk away from the plant and the pile of waste if he were required to pay the cost of hauling and disposing at an approved hazardous-waste disposal site.

McNally, however, said he hopes the current court restraining order on the company will result in a waste-removal solution that will not require the state to move in. He added that it will probably take a year before such a waste-removal plan can be worked out.

Councilwoman Kaywood said during the hearing that, despite references to the toxics in the old waste pile, “there is no danger to tap water. . . . I don’t want hysteria to come about.”

McNally later told reporters that state tests have so far found no sign that the toxics are seeping into the ground below the pile and endangering Anaheim residents.

“As long as this site stays the way it is, and there is minimal (human) contact with it, it doesn’t present a substantial public health threat,” McNally said.