Company Fined for Failure to Report Newhall Lime Spill

The operator of a Newhall power plant was fined $10,000 Tuesday for failing to contact authorities in September after several hundred pounds of corrosive lime accidentally spilled out a silo and onto private property near three houses.

The company, AES Placerita, pleaded no contest in Newhall Municipal Court to one misdemeanor count of failing to report a hazardous materials spill. The company could have been fined up to $25,000, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. William W. Carter said.

AES apparently is the first company to be convicted under a 1986 state law that requires industries to report spills of hazardous materials to authorities, Carter said.

The law was prompted by a fire that gutted a Sylmar chemical plant in 1985, Carter said. Fifty-six people were slightly injured after inhaling noxious fumes during the blaze. At the time, firefighters complained that they did not know what kind of chemicals were stored on the property.

Inspect Cleanups

The aim of the 1986 law, Carter said, is to let authorities inspect the work of companies that mop up spills of potentially dangerous substances. In the AES case, the company cleaned up most but not all of the lime, he said.

The spill occurred Sept. 2 after a panel in a silo gave way, said Robert B. Muir, AES assistant plant manager. Cleanup crews carted the lime away, returning most of it to the silo, he said.

Carter said the lime landed near a dry creek bed. He said nearby residents complained that the lime irritated their skin. Lime, which is classified as a hazardous substance, is more corrosive than toxic, Carter said.

Muir said AES, which operates power plants in Connecticut, Texas and Oklahoma, was unaware that lime spills had to be reported to authorities in California. He said the lime was identical to the kind used by gardeners and had low, non-hazardous alkaline levels.

AES uses lime to clean water, which is turned into steam and then injected into the ground to loosen and extract oil, Muir said. The steam also powers electrical turbines that produce 98.7 megawatts an hour, enough electricity to serve the entire Santa Clarita Valley, Muir said. The plant began operating Aug. 29, five days before the spill.

Hauling Firm

In an unrelated matter, a hauling firm employed by AES is under investigation by the district attorney’s office for allegedly dumping about 1,000 pounds of non-hazardous waste in Towsley Canyon in October, Carter said. The powdery white waste contains salts, magnesium and lime and is a byproduct of the cogeneration process at AES, Carter said.

Ryco Equipment Co. of Bakersfield was paid by AES to cart off the powder to farmers, who used the substance as a soil conditioner. AES was not involved in the alleged dumping, Carter said. Muir said he did not learn of the investigation until Monday.

Muir said the power plant produces about 60 tons of the powder each week. The company will start looking for a new hauler, he said. “They won’t be doing business for me for very long,” he said.

Ryco officials declined to comment.