State Renews Permit to Store Wastes at Weapons Station

The state Department of Health Services announced Tuesday that it will renew a permit for the storage of hazardous waste at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, despite opposition from a majority of the City Council.

“I still feel that a hazardous waste site is incompatible with a residential area,” Councilwoman Gwen Forsythe said. “If they have been permitted outside of the city’s control, then the city needs to maintain a review of the storage.”

For the Navy to continue storing the waste on the base, the five-year state permit must now be accompanied by a federal permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. Allan Hirsch, a spokesman for the state health department, said the appropriate paperwork has been forwarded to the EPA.

“Our expectation is that the EPA will approve the permit,” Hirsch said. “Obviously I can’t speak for them, but we expect them to approve it.”

Al Zemsky, a public affairs officer for the EPA, said that he anticipates a decision soon but that he could not be specific.

The base first received permits to store hazardous waste in 1983. They allow waste oil, paint, lacquer thinner, mercury batteries and other material in a container storage area. Treatment or disposal of the wastes is not allowed.

“The substances that the permit authorizes them to store are all common hazardous wastes that you would find at many gas stations, hardware stores or light industrial facilities,” Hirsch said. “There are no exotic Dr. Strangelove substances.”

The permit renewal came after a review of the base by both agencies and a public hearing, at which some residents spoke against having hazardous waste stored near residential areas.

The City Council had requested that an environmental impact report be prepared before the permit could be renewed, but state officials said they are convinced that there is no significant effect on public health or on the environment.

Residents who spoke against the hazardous waste storage pointed to violations turned up during EPA inspections.

Three violations were recorded in 1989--two related to paperwork, and one for storing incompatible substances next to each other. The Navy said the chemicals involved had just been unloaded and that all violations were corrected.

Other violations were also recorded in previous inspections by both agencies, but Hirsch said they were relatively minor and that they did not include any release of waste or spills.

State health officials have prepared written responses to residents’ comments at the public hearing.

“Basically, we said that although there have been violations noted at the base in the past, they were of a relatively minor nature and certainly not serious enough to warrant denial of the permit,” Hirsch said. “We will continue to inspect them on a periodic basis.”

Mayor Edna Wilson and Councilman Joe Hunt said they have no problem with the license renewal. Hunt, who dissented with the council majority in its request for an environmental study on the issue, said he was impressed with the Navy’s efforts to comply with hazardous waste requirements and its performance.