Firm Fined $450,000 for Mishandling of Asbestos

A Los Angeles development company was fined $450,000 Thursday for violating hazardous waste regulations in connection with the improper disposal of asbestos during demolition of an Atwater Village pottery factory, authorities said.

Perlita in L.A. Inc. pleaded no contest to one count of illegal disposal of hazardous waste during an arraignment hearing in Los Angeles County Municipal Court, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert M. Brodney.

The West Los Angeles company, one of its site supervisors and two contractors were charged last month with allowing friable asbestos--crumbly material that could release airborne particles--to escape in December, 1988, when they demolished kilns and factory structures at the defunct Franciscan Ceramics plant. The structures at 2901 Los Feliz Blvd. were being demolished in preparation for development of the 45-acre site.

Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Perlita, in addition to the fine, was placed on three years probation by Municipal Judge Candace Beason, Brodney said. Environmental regulations allow for corporate violators to be charged as if they were an individual person.

“You can’t put a corporation in jail,” Brodney said. “They are paying a fine. $450,000 is a substantial fine.” Brodney said other companies in Los Angeles County have been fined $600,000 or more for similar violations.

Brodney said Perlita is also cleaning up the ceramics plant site and has already paid $150,000 to clean bricks that were taken from the kilns and transported to a brick-crushing plant in Barstow.

At the arraignment hearing Thursday, Pradeep Agnihotri of El Toro, John Edwards of Arcadia and Al Sesar of Newport Beach pleaded innocent to two counts each of illegal disposal and transportation of hazardous waste.

Agnihotri, 33, was the site manager for Perlita, and Edwards, 52, operated a company that demolished the kiln structures, authorities said. The debris was trucked to Barstow by a company operated by the 37-year-old Sesar.

Brodney said the kiln structures contained powdered asbestos insulation that should have been vacuumed out and bagged in accordance with health regulations.

“They should have known those kilns had asbestos in them,” Brodney said. “They just knocked them down, scooped it all up and put it in trucks, and it was taken to San Bernardino for recycling.”

Brodney said if the asbestos had not been discovered by health inspectors shortly after the demolition, the contaminated bricks would have been crushed and the material then possibly used to make roof tiles.

Though the kilns were torn down during two weeks of heavy Santa Ana wind activity in the area, health authorities who later tested air quality near the site could not determine if any of the asbestos became airborne during the demolition, Brodney said.

Perlita in L.A. is the corporate name for the Franciscan Promenade partnership, which is completing cleanup of the property before development, officials said.