EPA Calls for $126,000 Fine Against Torrance Brass Foundry

Federal regulators are requesting that a $126,000 fine be levied against a Torrance brass foundry, charging that the company neglected to file public reports on its releases of toxic lead and copper in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that the Martin Brass Foundry violated the “community right to know” law passed by Congress in 1986. The legislation requires manufacturers to report on their releases of more than 300 toxic chemicals, including lead and copper.

“The law was passed to give the public solid information about what kind of hazardous chemicals are being used in their communities,” EPA spokesman Bill Glenn said Thursday. “We have to enforce it and exact penalties to make sure the public gets the information it’s entitled to.”

The EPA case, to be decided by an administrative law judge, comes 13 months after Martin Brass agreed to pay $15,000 as part of a settlement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The AQMD had accused the company of emitting excessive amounts of lead dust into the air. In its settlement, the foundry also agreed to install additional air pollution control equipment at its plant.

Calls placed to Martin Brass on Thursday were not returned. Charles Ivie, a Los Angeles attorney who represented the foundry in the AQMD case, said he had not heard of the EPA’s proposed fine.

Glenn, however, said it is possible the foundry and the EPA will reach a settlement in the right-to-know case.

“The company has been in touch with our attorney,” he said. “I don’t know the exact status, but my guess is we would be entering into negotiations with the company.”

The foundry, at 2341 Jefferson St. near Charles Wilson Community Park, makes a wide range of brass products for the construction industry. According to the EPA, it uses copper and lead in quantities that are large enough to make it subject to the right-to-know law.

The fact was verified in an EPA inspector’s visit to the plant in October, 1990, the agency said. “The inspector went out and could see they were using large amounts of these substances, well over what the (federal) threshold is,” Glenn said Thursday.

Asked why the EPA took more than a year to propose a fine, Glenn attributed the delay to time-consuming administrative steps and the competing demands of other cases on the agency’s work force.

“These things tend to get delayed,” he said.

The EPA action in no way reflects a determination by the agency that Martin Brass released excessive amounts lead or copper into the air, in water or on land, Glenn said. The proposed fine, he said, is based simply on the foundry’s use of copper and lead--and its failure to file toxic release reports.

Said Glenn: “If you use over ‘X’ amount of copper or lead a year, you’ve got to report to us what happens to it.”