Agreement OKd on Dioxin Pollution
State health officials said they have reached an agreement with the owner of a dioxin-polluted metal smelting plant near Mojave to allow the state to immediately apply a polymer coating aimed at preventing the spread of contaminated soil and ash piles.
The consent agreement between the state and Mobile Smelting owner Bill Huffman was approved Friday by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. It also imposes operating restrictions on the plant, where the state recently found extremely high levels of toxic dioxins.
In a related development, the environmental group Greenpeace announced plans to protest at the Mojave area site Monday, saying the dioxin levels the state found there--up to 323,000 parts per billion in waste ash--are the highest recorded in California.
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