Scrap Firm Ordered to Clean Up Toxic Wastes

A National City scrap yard and its president pleaded no contest Tuesday to misdemeanor charges that they illegally stored hazardous waste. They were given nine months to dispose of about 25,000 tons of toxic material or face a possible fine of $1.5 million.

In a complicated settlement worked out with the San Diego County district attorney’s office, Pacific Steel Inc. and its president, Eduardo Gurria, were placed on three years’ probation with the promise that the company would limit the amount of new hazardous material it generates. At the same time, the company will remove a 30-foot-high mound of waste products called “fluff” that has been illegally stored at the scrap yard since January.

Fluff is the name for non-ferrous materials--upholstery, batteries, carpeting, vinyl mats, etc.--that are shredded when a car is junked. Fluff produces toxic fumes when it burns. There have been two fires in the fluff pile at Pacific Steel in the last three months, forcing authorities to evacuate nearby residences, businesses and schools. The fires also restricted traffic on Interstate 5 near the plant, located at 1700 Cleveland Ave.

Gurria was not present for the sentencing, but was represented by attorney Allen Haynie, who heard the terms of probation from Municipal Judge Joe Littlejohn. Littlejohn imposed fines of $80,000 on the company and $5,000 on Gurria. However, the company could avoid $60,000 in fines if it finishes the cleanup in nine months, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Josephine Kiernan.

“We’ll have the carrot and stick over them during this nine-month period,” said Kiernan. “The incentive is to get them to clean up the mess.” Another incentive to remove the fluff pile is the possibility of an additional $1.5-million fine if the cleanup is not completed within nine months and Gurria and Pacific Steel fail to live up to the cleanup agreement, she added.

According to the compromise worked out with prosecutors, Pacific Steel will acquire 16 trailers with a 20-ton capacity each. The trailers will be used to remove at least 4,500 tons of fluff per month, beginning in October. During the first two months of the agreement, Pacific Steel will be limited to generating only 500 tons of new waste materials each month, and no more than 1,500 tons per month afterward.

By severely limiting the amount of new fluff that the company can store during the first two months of the agreement, Pacific Steel stands to lose up to $500,000 in business, Haynie said.

California environmental laws require automobile shredders to dispose of fluff in licensed hazardous waste dumps, which is extremely costly.

Pacific Steel is not licensed to store fluff and ran afoul of the law when it stored the hazardous waste in its yard for more than 90 days between January and May.

Until January, Pacific Steel had been trucking most of its fluff to a landfill near Mexicali. However, Mexican officials prohibited the hauling and dumping of any more hazardous wastes at the site until the landfill was upgraded, which took five months. Meanwhile, the fluff piled up in National City until May, when the company resumed hauling the waste to Mexicali.

Under the terms of the agreement between prosecutors and Pacific Steel, the County Department of Environmental Health Services will monitor the cleanup. The company could be fined about $6,666 for every month that it fails to remove at least 4,500 tons of fluff during the nine-month period of the agreement.

One of the problems with fluff is that the piles become extremely hot and are subject to spontaneous combustion. National City firefighters frequently respond to fires at Pacific Steel--though not all occur in the fluff pile. State law requires Pacific Steel and other automobile shredders to use sprinklers to keep fluff piles cool.

National City Fire Chief Randy Kimble said that firefighters responded to an average of 18 to 24 fires at Pacific Steel in the early 1980s and are currently responding to an average of six fires at the company every year.

In addition to the problem posed by toxic fumes from burning fluff piles, the runoff from the water used to cool the pile also poses a danger to San Diego Bay. Regional Water Quality Control Board officials said that the runoff carries particles of heavy metal into the bay.

In order to minimize the pollution danger posed by the runoff, state water quality officials ordered Pacific Steel to trap the runoff to prevent it from flowing into the storm drains. The trapped water is reused to sprinkle the fluff pile.