Firm Charged After Toxics Forced Thousands to Evacuate

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office Thursday filed a 10-count complaint against a City of Commerce chemical plant where toxic clouds forced the evacuation of up to 28,000 Eastside residents over the Labor Day weekend.

In one felony and nine misdemeanor counts, Grow Group Inc. and its president of consumer products who oversees the plant, Leslie Wilde, were charged with violating sections of the state Hazardous Waste Control Law that deal with the disposal and storage of hazardous wastes.

If convicted, the New York-based company could be fined more than $100,000 and Wilde could get up to three years in prison.

The company maintained its innocence in a brief statement.

“All of the material involved in the incident was removed within a week after the incident, and Grow Group has taken steps to ensure that a similar incident will not occur,” the statement said. “Grow Group does not believe that the company or any of its personnel is criminally responsible for the acts alleged.

“Grow Group is confident that its Commerce facility does not represent a hazard to the health or safety of its employees, its neighbors or the environment.”

David H. Guthman, head of the district attorney’s environmental crimes unit, said the charges stem from what he called the repeated mishandling of hazardous wastes at the plant this year and not just for the mornings of Sept. 3 and 4, when spills prompted sometimes chaotic evacuations of portions of Commerce, Montebello, Monterey Park and East Los Angeles.

Violations date back to March, when a toxic spill brought inspectors to the Malt Avenue plant, which manufactures chlorine pellets used to purify swimming pools.

Another spill occurred a month before the Labor Day weekend accidents, and county health officials contended that company officials were slow to remedy poor storage at the plant. In fact, some of the changes ordered as a result of the Aug. 10 spill were not in place by Labor Day, authorities charged.

“What happened on the Labor Day weekend was totally preventable if proper procedures . . . had been followed,” Guthman said.

A predawn evacuation was ordered on Sept. 3 when 2,000 pounds of smoldering trichloro-triazine-trione in large drums released a toxic cloud that blanketed a 1/2-mile area of Commerce. Authorities said they evacuated up to 27,000 people for up to 12 hours.

The next morning, one barrel of the same chemical compound began to vaporize and fumes drifted eastward toward Montebello. City officials evacuated about 1,000 residents who live south of Washington Boulevard.

Sixty-eight people were treated for minor injuries, mostly respiratory difficulties. One man, Thomas David, 39, of Huntington Park has not been able to return to work because of a “chemical pneumonia” condition, Guthman said.

Eastside community leaders welcomed the charges against the plant.

Lou Negrete, a spokesman for the United Neighborhoods Organization, said the strict enforcement of toxic regulations and laws is important to protect residential areas near industrial sites.

“The reason for tough enforcement is that many responsible businesses, who provide jobs in the community, will be undercut by bad apples that violate the law,” he said. “We’re against irresponsible businesses that threaten the lifes of nearby communities.”

William Molinari, a leader of South Montebello Area Residents Together, added, “We hope this sends a message that says, ‘Hey, there will be consequences for violating the law.’ ”

Grow Group has been hit with other actions in the aftermath of the Labor Day incidents.

In October, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Grow Group for eight violations of federal laws. And in September, the South Coast Air Quality Management District cited the company for creating a public nuisance by releasing hazardous chemicals into the air and for failing to have its air pollution control permits posted in the workplace.

Wilde, who was unavailable for comment, is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 5 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.