Westminster Toxics Worry Everyone Except Residents : Pollution: Superfund status doesn’t scare them. They say neighborhood’s lack of crime outweighs cancer risk.

It’s a nice family neighborhood, where people are perfectly content to stay put for years. No gangs. No traffic. No noise. No trouble. Except, of course, for that one nagging little problem.

Toxic waste.

For years, black, acidic oil-refinery waste has oozed up from the ground into back yards in a subdivision near Westminster Mall, staining lawns, pools and even some house foundations. Last month, the entire 73-home neighborhood qualified for the nation’s Superfund list, and will soon join the ranks of infamous places like Love Canal, N.Y., and Times Beach, Mo., as one of the country’s most hazardous dump sites.

But ask many of the community’s 250 residents about life with toxic waste, and they say they don’t know what all the fuss is about. Most seem to shrug off the occasional oozing streams as if they were messy mud puddles instead of cancer-causing chemicals.

The Westminster neighborhood is the only dump site in California where waste is actually seeping into residents’ yards. But while shouts of “Not in My Back Yard!” are echoing around the country when it comes to hazardous waste, these homeowners are more likely to utter, “It’s in My Back Yard. So What?”

“I’m very happy here,” said Rosa Garcia, 68, a nurse who has lived on Sowell Avenue for 29 years, raising five children. “I only hear about it from people like (news reporters) who come to my door. It sounds scary, but when you live here it’s not that big of a deal--for me at least.”

Despite the Superfund stigma, the Westminster tract is an ordinary neighborhood of mostly middle-aged, middle-class working folk, many of whom have lived in their simple stucco homes for 10 to 30 years. The families say they are too busy making ends meet and too relieved that their community is relatively free of crime to worry about the curious black slime that appears on hot summer days.

Some homeowners in this tract a block east of the San Diego Freeway at Golden West Street are so used to the tarlike blobs that they sometimes pick them up and toss them in the trash, despite repeated warnings from health officials not to touch the substance. Others simply cover the stuff with cement or rocks--out of sight, out of mind.

Like Garcia, many no longer even notice the state and federal crews that show up to dig, scrape and sample. Others said they ignore the toxicologists’ advice to stop eating fruit and vegetables grown in their yards, and only a few say they have serious health problems, such as asthma, which may or may not be related to the waste.

A few of the newer residents, like a Vietnamese family that has the tarry goo seeping into their swimming pool, speak little English so it is unclear if they understand what’s happening. Others have lived with the threat for so long that it’s simply life as usual.

“They found nothing here, at my house, but it’s here, all around. My neighbor has it in his yard,” said Ed McNeely, who lives on Allen Street. “But there’s one thing I learned in my 50 years--not to worry. I’ve been living here since ‘66, and raised three kids, and we haven’t had any problems.”

Several houses in the neighborhood have sold over the years. During one recent open house at a residence listed at $195,000, the owner and agent intentionally left a small pool of the tarlike waste on the lawn.

“We wanted people to see what it was. People were curious about it, one guy kicked it with his foot,” said Bruce Highstrete, a Westminster real estate agent who has listed the house. “Most of the people in the neighborhood don’t think it amounts to much.”

State and federal environmental officials are surprised by the community’s odd lack of interest, especially since it is rare that families live with a toxic hazard literally in their back yards. Most Superfund sites are in industrial areas, military bases or empty lots.

“When we got involved in this in 1987, we figured that if there was one site where residents would be very concerned, this was the one,” said John Scandura, chief of site mitigation for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

“We find it interesting that there isn’t the kind of controversy you have with the McColl dump (in Fullerton) and Stringfellow (in Riverside County) and other sites. Not that we want that controversy, but it surprises us,” he said. “On the other hand, it’s worked to our advantage because these people are the most cooperative, and very easy to work with.”

Lois Gibbs, a former Love Canal homemaker turned nationally known activist, said the “community’s reaction is sort of strange” especially since the waste has been visible at their homes for more than a decade.

“In some communities, people have lived with it so long that they just think of it as a nuisance, not a health threat,” said Gibbs, who started a nationwide movement with her long battle to persuade the government to relocate residents from Love Canal because of severe chemical contamination.

“But the realization eventually sets in, and once they understand that these things can cause serious health problems and when they see that it’s happening to their own families, that’s when they get up in arms,” she said.

Gibbs, who formed the grass-roots Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste to help communities next to toxic dumps, said it is especially unusual because the Westminster families are mainly middle class.

“I’ve seen some communities react like that, but generally they are low-income or minority or aging communities, where it’s hard for them to face up to what’s happening,” she said.

The tract had the misfortune of being built on part of the old Murdy Dairy Farm, where truckloads of oil-refinery wastes were dumped in large pits for 20 years, beginning in the late 1930s. In 1960, the Hintz Corp., a developer, purchased the property and moved the waste into 10-foot-deep trenches, underneath what became the back yards of new homes on Sowell Avenue and between Allen and Kathy streets.

The petroleum-based chemicals occasionally seep into the yards of 25 of the 73 homes, and some has oozed into swimming pools, flood-control channels and patios. The black, glassy material resembles asphalt on many days, but melts and seeps to the surface when temperatures exceed 80 degrees.

Photographs taken by state health officials in one Kathy Street yard show a puddle of thick, black waste in the grass next to the back end of the lot. Another photo shows a 6-foot fracture in the ground, with a ribbon-like stream of tar seeping out.

The cleanup, which is still several years away, could mean the families would have to be temporarily relocated to hotels while their yards are excavated. As a last resort, houses might be torn down.

The state toxic control agency has pulled no punches when informing residents of the hazard.

Department toxicologists warn of a cancer risk from long-term inhalation of fumes emitted by the seepage, and it could trigger respiratory illness such as asthma attacks. The fumes contain several carcinogens, including benzene, a known cause of leukemia in humans, as well as sulfur dioxide, a potent respiratory irritant.

The cancer risk in the neighborhood is about 70 times greater than state officials consider safe, according to a state study released in April. Toddlers are especially at risk because of their tendency to roll around in and eat dirt, the study says.

State officials have gone door-to-door and sent out numerous mailings, warning people not to touch the waste, since it can be highly acidic, and to call them when it appears. They also advise them not to eat any fruit or vegetables grown in their yards.

“It’s not a major immediate threat, but our risk assessments show there could be some chronic long-term effects,” Scandura said. “There is an elevated risk of cancer, and we believe something needs to be done to eliminate the waste.”

Gibbs said that the Westminster oil-refinery waste isn’t as dangerous as the toxic soup of 200 chemicals dumped at Love Canal, but it still carries serious long-term health hazards.

“Oil-refinery wastes are about as toxic as you can get. It can volatilize right into their homes. It contains a lot of toxics like benzene which are known to cause leukemia and central nervous system disorders,” she said.

Complaints of seepage in the neighborhood date back to 1965. City officials at the time didn’t think it was serious, and advised homeowners to build patios over it.

It wasn’t until 1986, when a county health inspector investigating a complaint about tar oozing into a swimming pool took a sample, that officials made the alarming discovery that it was as strong as battery acid. Then, state and federal health crews swarmed in, wearing protective “moon suits” to test the air and water.

After a three-year investigation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in July that the tract qualifies for the Superfund list of toxic sites. A public comment period ends Sept. 26, and then the site is expected to slip easily onto the EPA’s final list since there are no protesting parties. Superfund designation means special federal funds are available for cleanup and the EPA will oversee the project.

Despite all this, only 12 residents attended a recent informational meeting that EPA and state toxics officials held in the neighborhood to address the health dangers and the new Superfund designation. And even fewer bother to go to the city library to read the extensive studies explaining the risks and discussing the options.

The Garcia home on Sowell Avenue is right on top of the spot where waste was originally buried 50 years ago. But in the past 29 years, the family has never seen the black slime.

“I’ve never seen anything in my yard. Never. They say some houses have it really bad. But I’ll tell you this, my plants back there are beautiful,” Rosa Garcia said with a smile.

Garcia, a nurse, said her family has no health problems she would attribute to the toxics. “I figure I’ve lived here so many years, something would have happened by now,” she said.

Dennis Delzeith, who lives on Sowell eight houses down from Garcia, saw the stuff seeping into his back yard about 10 years ago, covering a 6-by-2-foot stretch of lawn. He remembers that it smelled like sulfur as he scooped it up and threw it in the trash.

“I just thought someone buried something in the yard, so I cleaned it up. Then, two years later, it started coming up again. So I boarded it and cemented it up. I haven’t had any trouble with it since,” said Delzeith, 55, an Allied Signal supervisor who raised two children there.

About a year ago, a government-hired researcher dug into his lawn to sample the waste, and when he hit a patch, “the fumes were so strong that he grabbed his (gas) mask,” Delzeith said.

Now that he knows the material is toxic, Delzeith said he worries what hidden health effects might surface in years to come, especially with the area’s children. His wife, Gloria, has severe asthma, and was hospitalized last week for a respiratory ailment; they both wonder if the refinery waste has something to do with it.

But Delzeith doesn’t worry that much. He has eaten the limes and oranges that grow in his back yard for years, and has no intention to heed the advice to stop.

Francesca Perez, who speaks little English, doesn’t know what the stuff is that seeps into her yard on Kathy Street on some hot days. But she knows she doesn’t like it.

“I no like,” Perez said, making a face. She said her family was unaware of the waste when they bought the home for $180,000 a year and a half ago. The family, including several young boys, now rarely go in the back yard.

Aida Perez, 15, said her stepfather, who recently had heart surgery, felt dizzy from the fumes when he got close to the globs last year. After that, her uncle cleaned it up, threw it in the trash and covered the area with rocks.

Several doors down, Phil Serrantino’s three-bedroom tract home has been for sale at an asking price of $195,000 since May. No serious offers have come, but his agent, Bruce Highstrete, said it’s not necessarily because of the waste since all sales have been slow.

Anyone buying a house in the neighborhood must by law be alerted to the toxic waste, and sign a disclosure notice saying they understand the threat.

“It’s hard to tell” if the house will sell, Highstrete said. “If somebody saw that house and it had other features they really liked, I don’t think most people would be concerned about it. They get a little asphalt in their yard is all.”

Toxic Back Yards

A Westminster neighborhood recently qualified as a federal Superfund cleanup site, ranking it among the nation’s worst toxic problems. Black, tarry oil-refinery waste which contains cancer-causing chemicals has been seeping into back-yard lawns and swimming pools since 1965. The waste was first dumped into pits from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s, then relocated into trenches by a developer who bought the land and built homes there in 1960. The U.S. EPA is expected to oversee the cleanup.