Dumping Charge Costs Firm Its Sewer Rights
Los Angeles sanitation crews Monday severed and sealed the sewer lines of a North Hollywood plating business, which city tests showed had dumped illegal amounts of toxic chemicals, including cyanide, into the sewers.
The Board of Public Works unanimously ordered the action against All American Plating, 7129 Vineland Ave., after reviewing reports that the firm had dumped 25 times the permissible amount of cyanide, eight times the amount of copper and twice the allowable concentration of zinc.
Inspectors with the Bureau of Sanitation’s Hazardous Waste Enforcement Division, acting on a tip from a citizen, tested the discharge at the firm on April 27. They found that workers were bypassing a cleaning system and dumping directly into city sewers, said Vincent Barsh, division manager.
The firm’s co-owner, Joe Pantiliat, denied that the company was bypassing its cleaning system and said Monday’s action forces him to shut down the business.
The board referred the case to the county district attorney’s office for possible prosecution.
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