Firm Cancels Plan to Burn Toxic Wastes in Van Nuys

A Van Nuys defense company has dropped plans to test a new toxic incineration process at its plant, bowing to intense community and political opposition.

Marquardt Co. President Frank X. Marshall said Thursday that he was stunned by the unyielding community protests, which have included picketing at the Saticoy Street plant and a rancorous public meeting attended by more than 500 residents.

“We are an aerospace firm and quite frankly neither I nor my staff could afford to put all of our attention on this. . . . We are not going to endure it,” Marshall said. “I was disgusted by the whole thing. This is a low-cost, creative concept to really solve a major problem.”

Marshall said he plans to find a remote site, likely out of state, to conduct the test.

Several community leaders who led the protest hailed the cancellation as a victory.

“It’s an acknowledgment that they listened to a community that let its feelings be known,” said Penny Newmark of Van Nuys, who organized Residents Against Pollution.

$72,000 State Grant

Last year, Marquardt won a $72,000 state Department of Health Services grant to test a process to incinerate toxic materials employing a technology that is used in jet engines.

The technology calls for burning hazardous chemicals under controlled circumstances at more than 3,000 degrees--a process that Marquardt engineers said would break down the toxic materials to air, water and carbon dioxide, which could then be safely emitted.

Nearby residents, as well as environmental groups such as Greenpeace, assailed the proposal, fearing that the tests could fail, harm air quality and endanger the public health. They said hazardous materials should not be incinerated in the densely populated residential area.

No area politicians endorsed the plan. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) opposed the test, while others, including Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, whose district includes Van Nuys, called for environmental reviews.

State officials said they will help Marquardt officials find a remote location for the tests. They do not plan to ask for return of the grant money, $60,000 of which has already been spent on equipment, said Kim Wilhelm, supervising health services engineer.

“On the one hand, we’re disappointed because the results of this technology have been set back,” Wilhelm said. “But at least this shows we are trying to work and listen to local communities.”

State officials sent notices to residents in August, informing them of the tests and asking for public comment. Technically, no state public hearings were required before the testing because raw chemicals mixed specifically for the tests, not hazardous wastes, would be burned.

Protest leaders said they remain concerned about the company’s on-site incinerator, which Marquardt officials had said would be modified for the tests.

“We still have questions that remain to be answered about what is burned there,” Newmark said. “We want assurances that there is no more incineration.”

A Marquardt spokesman said the incinerator was dismantled in 1986 and had been used primarily to burn excess propane about once a month under a 1981 permit from the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Marshall said he was frustrated about a possible public misconception that the firm wanted to get into the hazardous waste incineration business.

“It’s ludicrous to think that we would even think of doing that,” he said.

The company remains committed to developing what Marquardt engineers think will be a significant breakthrough in technology to dispose of hazardous materials, he said.

“But we are not going to do any of it in Van Nuys,” Marshall said.