Countywide : Firm Settles 1986 Toxic Waste Suit

Lawyers for Ventura County on Tuesday reached a $31,000, out-of-court settlement of a 1986 civil lawsuit against a chemical company that allowed toxic wastes to flow into the Ventura River.

Chem-O-Lene Inc. of Ventura agreed to pay the county $30,994.28 in civil penalties and administrative costs for chemical spills that occurred in 1984 and 1985, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory W. Brose. A trial in the suit had been scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Brose said Chem-O-Lene attorney Robert L. McCord Jr. agreed to the county’s most recent demand in making the settlement. The pact included paying the penalties and costs and agreeing to an injunction against further violation of state environmental laws by Chem-O-Lene, which produces chemicals that aid oil field production.

McCord also agreed to drop a cross-complaint, which company President Ray Martin filed against three former employees after they complained about the spills to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health in 1985.

Cal/OSHA forwarded the complaint to the Ventura County Environmental Health Department. In 1985, investigators executed a search warrant on Chem-O-Lene’s plant at 4285 Crooked Palm Road in Ventura. They later arrested Martin on charges of illegal waste dumping, after finding that benzene, toluene, xylene, methyl alcohol, petroleum hydrocarbons and other contaminants had flowed into the river.

Martin was convicted in 1986 of two counts of illegal transfer of hazardous waste. He was ordered to serve five years probation and pay a $127,500 fine plus $7,730 in restitution to the county for cleanup charges, Brose said.