U.S. Seeks $9.5 Million in Norco Soil Suit : Pollution: The EPA says a Houston-based company and the owner of a former battery recycling site failed to clean up lead contamination.

The federal government filed a $9.5-million lawsuit against a Houston-based company and the owner of a former battery recycling site for failing to clean lead-contaminated soil here.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that a suit was filed against NL Industries Inc. of Houston, which was responsible for cleaning up a 3.8-acre lot at 904 1st St. in Norco. The suit also names Peter J. Gull, who has owned the property since 1989.

Gull bought the site from B&H; Enterprises, a family-owned business that had operated a battery recycling and dismantling business on the residential lot.

Neighbors complained that the company disposed of battery acid, which seeped into the soil. Some neighbors also feared that the acid flowed down a knoll, into a wash and onto their property.

NL Industries had sent its batteries to B&H; Enterprises, which removed copper and other metals for resale, then disposed of the rest of the batteries, said Terry Wilson, a spokesman for the EPA’s regional office in San Francisco.

From about 1962 to 1977, B&H; had recycled up to 1,000 batteries a day, the EPA said.

In 1988, the EPA issued an enforcement order to NL Industries and Gull to clean up the property.

The attempt they made was inadequate, the EPA said, so the agency took over the cleanup in February, 1989.

The agency said it spent $2.5 million to sample, excavate and treat contaminated soils, bury the treated soils, install drainage lines, build a permanent fence and cap the site.

Officials from NL Industries could not be reached for comment. A telephone listing for Gull in Moreno Valley had been disconnected.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, seeks $7 million in damages for failure to comply with the enforcement order, plus $2.5 million in cleanup costs.

Wilson said that as the price of copper has increased, more mom-and-pop companies have been formed to recycle batteries for sale. B&H; Enterprises was owned by a Norco couple who operated out of their home in a rural area. The company is now defunct and the property vacant.

Superfund trust money was used to pay for emergency removal of contaminated sites with possible health risks.

Judy McKee, who moved into a nearby home about 25 years ago, said the only known health problems were among her sheep.

“The sheep would drink from the (runoff) water,” she said. “We figured it had to do with the battery acid discharge. We were all aware of it. But we just got the sheep to drink elsewhere. No one gave it a second thought.”

Even so, McKee said, at the time the cleanup was ordered, some residents were tested by Riverside County health officials for lead contamination. McKee said she tested negative and has heard no reports of other people having lead traces.

NL Industries was also sued to force it to clean a battery site it once owned in Granite City, Ill.

EPA officials said Wednesday’s action is part of a national crackdown to enforce existing lead regulations. In the most recent effort, federal authorities have filed 24 suits in courts around the United States.

The EPA has taken direct enforcement actions against 12 facilities, assessing more than $10 million in penalties.