DWP Workers Investigated in Hazardous Burning Incident

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office is investigating an incident last September in which several Department of Water and Power employees allegedly created a cloud of hazardous smoke by burning paint cans and solvents in a furnace at the Scattergood Power Plant near El Segundo.

The city attorney’s office declined to name the employees, but City Councilwoman Gloria Molina reported Wednesday that the supervisor who allegedly ordered the burning is an environmental officer who “was supposed to be training others about environmental law.”

The incident became public recently, when the Department of Water and Power asked the City Council to hire a private attorney to represent the Scattergood employees in the criminal investigation.

Particularly Galling

Most council members said at their Wednesday meeting that they are opposed to hiring a $200-an-hour private attorney to represent the workers. The council voted 14 to 0 to send the question back to its Energy and Natural Resources Committee, effectively killing the proposal. City Council members, who say they have been trying to hire fewer outside attorneys, found it particularly galling that the man accused of directing the burning is an environmental officer.

“I don’t see why we should represent someone accused of doing a criminal act,” Councilman Joel Wachs said. “Hell yes, he needs an attorney, but he should pay for his own.”

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office investigated the case initially, but referred it to the city attorney’s office after deciding the crime likely amounted to a misdemeanor.

A district attorney’s investigator reported that, early on the morning of Sept. 1, an environmental officer at the plant instructed employees to burn “paint cans, solvents and cleaning pans . . . in the furnace,” said David Guthman, head of the district attorney’s Environmental Crimes Division.

Guthman said that the materials created a dense smoke that touched off alarms within the plant, which is in the city of Los Angeles to the west of El Segundo. Workers shut down the furnace immediately, but the hazardous waste burned and smoldered for more than two hours, he said.

Laboratory tests showed that the materials left a residue of zinc and barium, although it is unclear what substances were released into the air, Guthman said.

Deputy City Atty. Vincent Sato said he is not sure when his office will decide whether to file criminal charges.