Plan to Burn Toxic Wastes Rouses Fears

The Marquardt Co. has announced plans to test a hazardous-waste incinerator on its land adjoining Van Nuys Airport, alarming some nearby homeowners who fear the tests will lead to a permanent hazardous-waste disposal facility on the site.

Dean Menard, a Marquardt vice president, replied Wednesday that the tests pose no threat to the nearby community and that the firm has “no plans for hazardous-waste disposal here--none at all.”

But Penny Newmark, a Genesta Avenue resident who lives two blocks from the firm on Saticoy Street, said she and other neighbors are still apprehensive about the firm’s long-range plans. Newmark was one of about 1,000 Van Nuys residents who recently received letters from the state Department of Social Services explaining the purpose of the incinerator tests.

Newmark said the Aug. 10 letter “sounds like they’re leading up to” plans to incinerate jet fuel and lacquer thinner full time in the future.

Susan Tansky, a Studio City resident who has fought several incinerator projects in Southern California, said she fears Marquardt will try to dispose of increasingly potent chemicals.

OK Needed

But even if Marquardt does decide to incinerate hazardous wastes full time, Menard said, it would require the approval of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health Services. Menard said the agencies would ensure that the incinerator’s emissions would be “cleaner than your car’s exhaust, cleaner than your barbecue’s exhaust.”

Marquardt, on Saticoy Street near Balboa Boulevard, is an aerospace research and development firm that hopes to develop better methods of incinerating hazardous materials. Its incinerator test project is partly financed by a grant of $72,430 from the state Department of Health Services.

John Low, a hazardous-materials specialist with the department, said Marquardt was one of 17 firms selected from 100 applications for research into hazardous-waste incineration.

Low said the tests will use a mixture designed to approximate raw hazardous waste: carbon tetrachloride, trichlorobenzene, lacquer thinner and jet fuel.

Low said all the chemicals in the mixture have hazardous properties, but said the risk to the public is minimal because the testing will be conducted on a remote part of the Marquardt property, about 1,000 feet from the nearest residences.

He said the test would shut down if the emissions released during the burn created a hazard to neighbors.