Hyperion Proposal Awakens Residents’ Fury

Marilyn Rothenberg says she and her El Segundo neighbors always tried to be nice guys when it came to dealing with the city of Los Angeles, which runs the Hyperion Treatment Plant near their homes.

Not anymore, she says. Now they’re fighting mad.

“What they say and what they do are entirely different,” said Rothenberg, who has lived near the facility for nearly 11 years. “ . . . We have been very patient, we have been giving, but no more, because we have been absolutely fooled.”

Three weeks ago, the residents’ frustrations erupted when Hyperion officials raised 50 large weather balloons to demonstrate how homeowner views might be affected by a proposal to build a row of 105-foot-high tanks at the plant.

The tanks, known as digesters and used to treat sewage, are part of the massive expansion project under way at the plant. El Segundo residents quickly learned that the tanks would block ocean views and breezes and, presumably, drive down property values.

“I guess when the ballons went up (last month) it really kind of hit home on what kind of expansion was going to take place,” said John VanHook, another resident who lives near the plant.

The second shot in that battle was fired Saturday. At the urging of some residents who said the one-day demonstration should be repeated, Hyperion staged another balloon demonstration--and the homeowners used the event to stage a rally.

More than 200 residents gathered at Hillcrest and Maple avenues Saturday morning, many wearing T-shirts that read “No Egg Segundo”--referring to the egglike shape of the proposed digesters.

Residents toured homes to see how views and breezes would be blocked, listened to politicians’ speeches--which were repeatedly interrupted as airplanes passed overhead--and questioned a Hyperion official.

Walt Naydo, Hyperion division engineer, explained to the crowd that white balloons marked the proposed sites for the digesters. Red balloons indicated a planned warehouse and service facility, blue balloons represented a proposed 50-foot multiple-level parking structure, and yellow balloons represented two “headworks” buildings, one that would be about 74 feet high and would house two silos, he said.

As Naydo spoke, residents waved signs that read “Hyperion Does Not Tell the Truth” and “Los Angeles, Stop Dumping on Us.” After several residents began questioning Naydo at once about the height of the proposed buildings, Mayor Carl Jacobson took the microphone and admonished the crowd to remain orderly.

Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. advised residents to write to Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) and said he would speak to the congressman as well. “We don’t mind the Hyperion expansion,” Tucker said. “We just don’t want it here.”

VanHook said the protest would let Hyperion officials know that the issue has galvanized the community. “We need to let the Hyperion people know we’re dead serious,” he told residents. “We’re playing hardball.”

City representatives at the rally collected residents’ written comments, which Jacobson said would be forwarded to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Several dozen residents then marched down Hillcrest Avenue to the Hyperion plant at the corner of Imperial Highway and Vista del Mar, many donning white breathing masks over their noses and mouths and chanting, “Save our environment.”

For years, El Segundo residents have occasionally, in small groups, confronted Hyperion officials over the noise and foul odors that sometimes emanate from the plant. Last year, Hyperion officials rented an office in downtown El Segundo and hired an ombudsman to assist them in handling complaints about the expansion work.

VanHook, who is spokesman for Save El Segundo’s Environment--the citizens group that sprang up in the wake of the initial balloon show--says the group has asked the City Council to file legal action against Los Angeles if the proposal to build the tanks is not abandoned. At least one council member, Scot Dannen, predicted Wednesday that the council will go along with the group’s request.

And the residents group has begun pressing to have Hyperion shift its expansion plans to 300 acres owned by the city of Los Angeles just north of Imperial Highway.

Hyperion officials say that would delay their court-ordered upgrading of the plant and possibly harm the El Segundo blue butterfly.

Hyperion officials say no final decision has been reached on whether to build the tanks, which would be about 85 feet in diameter. Plant officials have planned a fact-finding mission to Europe in November to seek alternatives to the high tanks, according to Naydo.

The officials will then submit their findings to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is preparing the environmental impact report for the plant’s expansion. Besides blocking views and ocean breezes, construction of the tanks could damage nearby homes, the residents fear. They point to the 21 El Segundo homeowners who have already filed claims against Hyperion, contending that their dwellings were damaged last year by constant vibrations caused by Hyperion construction crews operating bulldozers. The city of Los Angeles has settled seven of the claims.

The same residents assert that added noise and air pollution problems will be created by the plant expansion. Despite past pledges by plant officials to work to decrease the foul smells that sometimes come from the plant, the problem persists, they say.

“We call it a burnt pizza smell,” said Patti Paynter, who moved into a home near the plant nine years ago.

Save El Segundo’s Environment argues it would be better for the city if Hyperion expands on the 300 acres at the end of Los Angeles International Airport’s runways. The vacant land is controlled by the airport.

“Here we are, a little bitty town,” El Segundo City Councilman Alan West said. “We have one square mile of residential use and we have huge Los Angeles, which has (300) acres of nothing.”

Naydo said expanding the plant on the vacant land north of Imperial poses several problems. For one, the property is a known habitat of the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly. As such, environmentalists, as well as the state Coastal Commission, have opposed an airport plan to develop the land as a golf course.

Also, Naydo said that if Hyperion were to switch gears and seriously pursue using the land, it would fail to meet the 1998 deadline imposed by the federal government to turn Hyperion into a full secondary treatment plant.

Hyperion and other Los Angeles officials said they empathize with El Segundo residents who live near the plant. “I am sure living next to a sewage treatment plant is not your ideal situation,” said Edward Avila, president of the city’s Board of Public Works.

Nevertheless, Avila and the others said they have tried to be sensitive to the residents’ concerns, and to mitigate as much as possible any negative impacts that might be caused by plant operations.

Hyperion’s Naydo said equipment has been installed and other steps have been taken to minimize the foul odors coming from the plant. Plans have been readied to correct problems at a sludge treatment facility responsible for a recent rash of bad odors, he said.

Councilman Dannen said El Segundo can create its own habitat for the butterfly on the dunes near the plant. He said he is unwilling to put up with any construction at Hyperion that would affect views.

“The city of Los Angeles has felt it could do as it well pleased at the expense of the people who live here,” Dannen said. “ . . . The treatment of El Segundo has been shabby on a good day.”