La Jolla Burn of Hazardous Waste Begins
Ogden Environmental Services Tuesday began its controversial test burn of hazardous waste from Fullerton’s McColl waste dump, kicking off a planned four-day experiment without incident.
The experiment, which is being conducted in a research incinerator at the GA Technologies plant on Torrey Pines Mesa, began about 11 a.m., said officials from Ogden and the county Air Pollution Control District, which is monitoring the test burn along with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
By mid-afternoon, Ogden was feeding 200 pounds of contaminated soil per hour into the 1,700-degree incinerator, the maximum amount of waste allowed under its permits.
The first-stage burn was scheduled to last 12 hours, followed by 12 hours when no waste would be fed into the incinerator, said Joe Charest, an Ogden publicist. The same schedule will be followed throughout the four days, he said.
APCD officials, who have stationed an engineer at the Ogden plant to monitor the test burn, reported no problems with the test.
Ogden spent years winning approval for the burn from federal, state and county regulators, and in a court fight with the city of San Diego.
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