EPA Will Dig Up Soil to Eliminate Hydrazine : Seacliff: Residents are told an aeration process has been chosen to deal with traces of the toxic spill from a train wreck.

The remaining traces of toxic chemicals that were spilled near Seacliff on July 28 during a freight train derailment will be eliminated by digging up and exposing the tainted soil to air, environmental officials said Saturday.

Representatives from the California Environmental Protection Agency met with a dozen Seacliff residents Saturday to explain how the EPA will clean up the residues of hydrazine that spilled near the beachside community in the wreck of a Southern Pacific freight train.

More than 400 gallons of the toxic chemical spilled when an overheated axle snapped, derailing 12 freight cars that slammed into an overpass of the Ventura Freeway. Forty-nine houses at Seacliff were evacuated and part of the freeway was closed during the five-day cleanup.

Hydrazine is a component of rocket fuel and has wide industrial applications in products ranging from pesticides to shoe soles. Exposure to its fumes is highly irritating to eyes, nose, throat and lungs and can produce dizziness and nausea. Large amounts can damage the liver, kidneys, nervous system and red blood cells and may lead to seizures and death.

Eleven workers were mildly sickened by fumes during the cleanup. Most of the spilled hydrazine was neutralized with a solution of swimming pool chlorine, or evaporated from the ground.

Cal-EPA chemists last August found hydrazine under the repaired rail bed in concentrations of only 4.2 p.p.m., which would not “constitute any health risk,” said Lou Levy, a toxicologist for Cal-EPA.

In fact, based on the concentrations found in August, chemists estimate that any traces of hydrazine left now would be undetectable, said David Stuck, project manager. “Just exposing it to air breaks it down,” he said.

Seacliff residents could have decided to do nothing and let the remaining traces of hydrazine evaporate, but no one wanted to take a chance, said David Cushman, president of the homeowners association.

In late January or early February, workers from Cal-EPA will dig up about a foot and a half of soil over an area of about 600 square feet directly under the Ventura Freeway overpass, west of the railroad tracks, Stuck said. “They’re going to be chopping it up for about four hours and then take some samples to make sure all the hydrazine is out,” he said.

Residents were silent during most of the meeting, interrupting with only a few questions. No one raised any objections to the proposed solution.

“I really don’t think there is any need for the aeration,” said Richard Hummer, a Seacliff resident who was quiet throughout the meeting. “I don’t think there is any health hazard. You can inhale more at an airport.”

“I don’t think the residents would have let them get away with a ‘do-nothing’ option,” said resident Gina Hollywood, 41. “In August, they were so optimistic they wouldn’t find any hydrazine, and they did. They don’t think anything would ever happen if we just left it in the ground, but my answer to that is, ‘We never thought we would have a train derailment either.’ ”