Rockwell’s Chairman Is Praised and Scorned : Environment: A state business group names him ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ while protesters proclaim him ‘Polluter of the Year.’

While Rockwell International’s chief executive was honored Thursday as “Manufacturer of the Year” by a statewide business group, demonstrators at a counter-ceremony were naming him “Polluter of the Year” because of contamination at a Rockwell test site west of Chatsworth and elsewhere.

Donald R. Beall won accolades from hundreds of executives at a California Manufacturers Assn. luncheon at the Los Angeles Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Outside, 35 demonstrators satirically awarded him a gold-painted waste drum and framed “certificate of non-appreciation.”

“What he really should be recognized for . . . is the massive pollution of communities all over the country,” said Dan Hirsch, who was among the protesters who cited Rockwell’s role at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory west of Chatsworth, the Stringfellow Acid Pits dump in Riverside County, and the government’s Hanford, Wash., and Rocky Flats, Colo., nuclear weapons plants.

Beall declined comment, but Richard Reisenweber, Rockwell vice president of environmental control and energy conservation, said the firm “has a strong commitment to sound environmental management.”

“I think it’s unfortunate that this protest occurred, because we are honored by this award and nothing can overshadow the accomplishments that have allowed us to receive it,” Reisenweber said.

At Santa Susana, Rockwell is cleaning up mainly low-level chemical and radioactive contamination from rocket testing and past nuclear energy research. Without admitting guilt, the company last week agreed to pay $280,000 to settle a state lawsuit alleging hazardous-waste violations at the site.

Rockwell was a major waste disposer at the leaky Stringfellow dump and has joined other firms to finance cleanup there under the federal Superfund toxic sites program. Protesters also cited the Rocky Flats plant near Denver, operated by Rockwell for the U.S. Department of Energy from 1975 until the start of this year; and they cited Hanford, where Rockwell also served as a DOE contractor. Serious contamination problems plague both sites.

According to the manufacturers association, the “Manufacturer of the Year” recipient is chosen for his or her interest in civic affairs, for having worked for the betterment of employee relations, “and for outstanding efforts in furthering the free enterprise system.”

Beall became Rockwell’s chairman and CEO in 1988. He also serves on the boards of directors of Times Mirror Co. and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.