Sand Tainted by Oil to Be Used in Construction

About 3,000 tons of sand that was tainted by Orange County’s Feb. 7 oil spill will be taken from the beaches to an abandoned mushroom farm to help create the foundation for a new development, officials said Monday.

The oily sand will be mixed with crushed concrete to help produce the asphalt needed for a city redevelopment project, officials said.

The novel use of the tainted sand, which was until now being taken to local landfills, is the result of an agreement between British Petroleum, which owned the oil spilled by the tanker American Trader, and Pomona Valley Equipment Demolition and Site Clearance, the Chino-based demolition firm that Huntington Beach has hired to level the mushroom farm on Golden West Street near Ellis Avenue.

The site will be used for a mobile home development and a golf course.

While helping to clean up the beaches and conserve landfill space, the arrangement figures to save both BP and the demolition company thousands of dollars in landfill fees and other expenses, officials said.

The oil company will not have to haul and dump truckloads of contaminated sand any farther, while asphalt can be made without buying the petroleum byproduct needed for that process.

Dennis Patton, Pomona Valley Equipment’s project specialist, estimated that using the oil-soaked sand, considered a non-hazardous material under state codes, will save his firm about $50,000.

“There’s no reason not to do this,” he said. “It’s environmentally sound, it complies with all the regulatory agencies and it saves the city money and hassle.”

Beginning Thursday, the blackened sand will be trucked from the beaches to the farm, where it will be processed into a product that can be combined with crushed concrete. The processing is expected to take five days to complete, said Lowell Preston, the demolition firm’s environmental manager.

Patton said the demolition and asphalt production will be finished within a month.