American Ecology Predicts Delay in Dump Opening

American Ecology Corp., an Agoura Hills waste disposal company, said the opening of its controversial radioactive waste dump in the Mojave Desert will be delayed beyond the Jan. 1, 1993, federal deadline.

The 70-acre, $50-million dump for low-level radioactive waste was to have been approvedby the end of last year, but the State Lands Commission in June delayed action on it. The commission must approve the transfer of land for the dump from the federal government to the state of California before the dump can be built.

American Ecology said it has been told by state regulators that the company has provided the state with all the information needed to decide whether to issue a license. However, environmentalists have opposed the dump, citing American Ecology’s troubles with dumps in other states.

Separately, American Ecology said its fourth-quarter net income more than doubled to $4.1 million from $1.85 million a year earlier. Revenues grew 30% to $18.7 million from $14.46 million.

For the full year ended Dec. 31, American Ecology’s net profit nearly doubled to $7.4 million from $3.8 million in 1990, while revenues grew 15% to $55.8 million from $48.7 million.