Former Long Beach Refinery Site Declared a Public Danger

Citing a threat of explosions and a host of environmental problems, the state has a declared a former refinery site in Long Beach near the San Diego Freeway a public danger.

The action by the Department of Health Services comes six months after Long Beach officials notified the state that a 1.5-million-gallon tank on the property near Cherry Avenue and Spring Street was leaking hazardous waste.

Last operated as a bulk fuel storage and blending terminal by a company that is now in bankruptcy, the five-acre industrial tract was fenced and posted with danger signs several months ago. But nothing has been done to empty the tank or deal with other pollution problems, including a leak in a natural gas pipeline, waste piles of PCB-laced soil and scores of abandoned drums that may contain waste and contaminated ground water, city officials say.

Officials also worry that if a flare that burns excess gases from tanks on the property is not maintained, there is a danger of explosions.

“There are a lot of hazardous materials on the site that have to be removed,” said Allan Hirsch, public information officer for the state health services department. “But the site is under control. I wouldn’t say there is undue risk of explosion right now. There would be if the flare is shut off.”

Nevertheless, the City Council has ordered emergency evacuation plans to be drawn up for the area.

Hirsch said the state has been working with the city since February, inspecting the site and determining the extent of contamination. “It sounds easy to say the government can go right in and pump this stuff out but it doesn’t work that way,” he said.

Further complicating the matter is a court motion by a bankruptcy trustee to officially abandon the site, which would leave no one to maintain the flare. It is that threat, Hirsch said, that prompted the department Monday to issue an order of “imminent and/or substantial endangerment.” Under the order, the state has demanded that companies responsible for the pollution immediately clean it up.

But given the tangled legal and financial affairs of those firms, Hirsch said: “We’re not sure we’re going to get any response.”

In that case it will probably be left to the state to clean up the pollution that presents the most immediate threat. In the long term, city officials say it may cost $40 million to clean up the property.

“It’s an orphan child that nobody will touch with a 10-foot pole,” said Tom Grimmett, the bankruptcy trustee for Wright Cos. of Las Vegas, which leased the property and is now in liquidation. He said the firm is $10 million in debt and cannot afford to clean up or maintain the property--which is why he filed a motion to abandon it.

“Now we’ve got everybody involved. Maybe we’ll get some help,” Grimmett said.