Plan for Cleanup of River Pesticide Spill Blocked : Environment: Because of health concerns, state agency refuses to let railroad try to evaporate substance in Shasta Lake.

Southern Pacific announced plans Friday to clean up the plume of toxic pesticide in Shasta Lake by vaporizing the chemical, but state officials quickly stepped in and blocked the operation because of health concerns.

The railroad company was preparing to place pipes under the half-mile-long spill and bubble the chemical to the surface when the new California Environmental Protection Agency brought the plan to a halt, officials said.

“It was pulled because the (health) issue had not been considered fully enough,” said Environmental Protection Secretary James Strock. “We just had to make absolutely certain that we had all the facts about any potential human health exposure, because that’s our top priority.”

Strock said, however, that the state authorized Southern Pacific to go ahead and test the aeration plan on a small portion of the green pesticide plume to determine what kind of fumes would be created by the process.

Earlier in the day, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren announced that he is considering criminal charges against Southern Pacific for the spill, caused when a railroad car derailed Sunday and dumped up to 19,000 gallons of poisonous metam-sodium into the Sacramento River.

The attorney general also said he plans to file a civil suit to make Southern Pacific pay all of the state’s costs for the cleanup and restoration of the Sacramento River and Shasta Lake.

The toxic plume, which destroyed aquatic life along a 45-mile stretch of the river before entering the lake, is moving at a rate of about half a mile a day toward Shasta Dam.

Along the riverbank, the leaves of trees are starting to curl from the pesticide, causing experts to worry about the extent of destruction to vegetation.

Since learning of the spill Monday, state and federal officials have chosen not to try to stop the flow of poison down the river. But on Friday, with the plume nearly at a standstill, Southern Pacific announced its aerating plan.

Under that plan, pipes placed under the plume would create bubbles to bring it to the surface. On shore, hoses would spray water over the area to keep most of the vapors from escaping. As a result, the chemical supposedly would decompose more quickly and become less concentrated. The railroad company planned to conduct the operation around the clock for several days, state officials said.

Although authorities stress that the spill does not pose a danger to supplies of drinking water, they want to halt its spread across the lake to minimize the destruction of wildlife. The poison already has killed more than 100,000 fish and could threaten endangered Chinook salmon that spawn just below Shasta Dam.

Strock said the state has agreed to allow testing of the aeration system on a small scale. “The spill itself is an uncontrolled experiment of unprecedented dimension,” Strock said. “We are having to be creative as we go.”

Earlier, Southern Pacific officials had lamented that the multitude of public agencies overseeing the response to the spill made progress on a cleanup plan difficult.

“Different people have different ideas of what they want,” said Andy Anderson, a railroad spokesman in San Francisco. “We’re all having problems communicating, getting together. . . . They’re running the show. We’re just taking orders.”

The toxic plume remains in Elmore Bay, in the northernmost arm of the lake. Much of the chemical is suspended about 50 feet below the surface of the water in a half-mile span that is several hundred yards wide, officials said.

Along the 45-mile stretch of contaminated river above the plume, the level of herbicide has dropped but is still considered deadly to fish and other aquatic life, said Fish and Game Department spokesman Ted Thomas.

“Lab results from tests taken yesterday are encouraging,” Thomas said. “It’s still lethal to fish but it shows the levels are declining pretty rapidly.”

Fish and Game officials said they are monitoring the extent of damage to wildlife by aerial observation and the trapping of animals. Animals that are caught will be examined and released. One dead duck found floating in the lake was retrieved, frozen and sent to a lab for testing.

“So far we have no confirmed kills of mammals or birds,” Thomas said.

Meanwhile, the nation’s top environmental regulator--U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William K. Reilly--said the disaster is evidence that current laws classifying pesticides are “anachronistic.”

A review of chemicals currently treated as hazardous by transportation authorities, “would find chemicals in use that are no longer acceptable,” Reilly said in San Francisco.

The EPA administrator said he hopes the spill will prompt an updated study of chemicals and the rules for their handling.

In a strongly worded statement, Gov. Pete Wilson said the state would make Southern Pacific pay for the cleanup and recovery of the region.

“The state will hold Southern Pacific and all other private, responsible parties accountable for all of the damage done to the river, the lake, the surrounding wilderness, and most important, the people who live and work near the spill,” the governor said.

Similarly, Atty. Gen. Lungren issued a statement saying, “I have ordered an assessment of whether the facts of this spill warrant criminal prosecution against the responsible parties.”

Lungren’s office would not discuss the nature of criminal charges that could be brought against Southern Pacific. Other government agencies, however, are investigating whether the company was negligent in transporting the chemical and whether it violated the toxic discharge laws by dumping the chemical in the river.

Terry Wilson, a spokesman for the EPA in San Francisco, said the federal agency is investigating Southern Pacific’s culpability under three federal laws.

Two of the statutes--the federal Superfund law and the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act--require companies to promptly notify local, state and federal authorities after the release of potentially hazardous materials.

Southern Pacific spokesman Anderson defended the railroad’s response immediately after the derailment.

“We did promptly call the state authorities within a few short minutes after the accident,” Anderson said.