Greenpeace to Join Protest Over Oil-Waste Dump : Environment: The organization will post signs on houses near the underground site. A free-speech debate may intensify.

Greenpeace announced Thursday that it will enter the controversy surrounding an oil-waste dump, buried beneath an Oxnard subdivision, by posting protest signs on the roofs of houses in the neighborhood.

Representatives of the international group, best known for its Save the Whales campaign, said they will meet with residents of the Oxnard Dunes neighborhood on Saturday morning to post signs that read “Toxic Timebomb.”

The signs will be posted only with the consent of the property owners, Greenpeace representatives said.

The protest tactic is significant because Lynda Paxton, an Oxnard Dunes resident, was cited for violating city ordinances last month after she painted protest signs on the side of her house and on the side of her fence.

Sherry Meddick, a Greenpeace spokeswoman, said she believes that the citation against Paxton violated her freedom-of-speech rights. City officials said the signs violated a city regulation that requires residents in that neighborhood to notify city officials before changing the color of a building.

The signs will be posted on the roofs to bring attention to the oil-waste dump that was found in 1985 beneath the 100-parcel subdivision, Greenpeace officials said.

The involvement of Greenpeace is the latest twist in the longstanding and controversial issue that in some instances has pitted neighbor against neighbor. While some residents vocally seek compensation for living above a waste dump, others would prefer to keep the matter quiet.

Richard Maggio, Oxnard’s community development director, said Greenpeace might also run into trouble with the city if officials determine that the signs are permanent alterations to the houses.

He said such signs require a city permit. Violators can be fined $100 for the first violation, $200 for the second and $500 for each additional violation, according to city officials.

“I guess it all depends on what they put up,” Maggio said, adding that he is aware that the matter raises questions about rights.

“First Amendment rights are an issue, and that is why we are being careful about how we approach this,” he said.

In 1986, 175 residents of Oxnard Dunes filed a $3.5-million lawsuit against 120 defendants, including developers, real estate agents, oil companies, previous landowners and landfill operators.

But state Department of Health Services officials announced last month that a five-year study found that the waste dump poses no health risk.

Meddick said the protest on Saturday is also designed to bring attention to the state’s report, which she said played down the health risks of living in Oxnard Dunes.

“The Department of Health Services said last spring that 40 different toxic chemicals had been identified at the site, that levels of contamination in soil samples were ‘unacceptable,’ and that the toxics were leaching into an underground aquifer,” she said in a statement. “Yet for some reason, the final report says the dump ‘no longer presents a hazard to health at current levels.’ ”

Although state health officials acknowledge that the chemicals in the soil appeared harmful at first, they said further studies found that the chemicals, such as cancer-causing chrysene, were at such low levels that they posed no health risk.

On Thursday night, state officials formally presented the study to a group of about 20 property owners and residents at South Oxnard Center.

Gloria Mercanet, who owns a corner lot in the Oxnard Dunes with her husband, said she thought the crowd was sparse because those involved in the lawsuit may be disappointed with the state’s positive report. She said she and her husband plan to build a house on their lot if the land proves to be safe.

Some property owners said they attended the meeting to confirm their beliefs that the oil beneath their property is not dangerous. Oxnard Dunes apartment owner Bob Gilbert, for example, said he has never found evidence of a problem in digging as deep as eight feet to install fences on his property. “Every place should be as safe as that,” Gilbert said.

Greenpeace’s decision to intervene in the Oxnard Dunes matter is not the first time the group has taken up an issue in Ventura County.

Last year it criticized the way that Waste Management of North America operates landfills elsewhere in the country. The company, which is planning to open a landfill near Weldon Canyon, rejected Greenpeace’s criticism as unfounded.