Waste Plant Is Threatened With Closure : Environment: State regulators fight a decision by the federal EPA that may shut down the National Cement facility that incinerates hazardous liquid material.

State regulators charged with protecting the environment are fighting a decision by their federal counterparts that could close a controversial Gorman area plant that is the only commercial facility in California permitted to incinerate liquid hazardous wastes.

The state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control pleaded with the federal Environmental Protection Agency last month to “seriously reconsider” its position and said the plant’s closure would be a “tremendous disappointment.”

The dispute was revealed in a letter by a top state official made public Thursday by environmentalists who want to close the plant. A spokesman for the official confirmed the letter’s contents.

At issue is the National Cement Co.’s Los Robles plant located just north of the Los Angeles-Kern County line. It burns liquid wastes as fuel to heat cement-making kilns, and has for years been criticized by environmentalists who contend the plant emits hazardous air pollution.

The company’s bid for new five-year federal and state operating permits has been stalled because the cement company operates on land leased from the Tejon Ranchcorp--whose parent firm is 30% owned by Times Mirror Co., which publishes The Times. Tejon Ranch is refusing to co-sign the documents, saying the company cannot vouch for the accuracy of the cement company’s statements.

And federal officials insist the permits cannot be legally issued unless Tejon signs because Tejon owns the land and must share responsibility.

However, taking an unprecedented legal position, state regulators are arguing that the company’s long-term lease on the site ought to satisfy the ownership requirements of state and federal law.

Federal EPA officials said Thursday they are considering the state’s arguments but for now are sticking to their position, which would prevent issuance of new permits. State officials, meanwhile, said they continue to hope the federal EPA will change its stance.

Without new permits, the plant would ultimately have to stop burning hazardous waste. Although the plant’s current permits have already expired, it is not clear how long the firm could continue to incinerate the wastes if no new permits are issued.

Without the plant, the state would be forced to dispose of liquid hazardous wastes by burying them in authorized landfills, which are scarce.

Tejon Ranchcorp, which owns 270,000 acres stretching from northern Los Angeles County almost to Bakersfield, decided it could not co-sign the permit applications because they required the company’s pledge under penalty of perjury that it could vouch for the accuracy of the application, said Allene Zanger, general counsel for the company.

She said the land company cannot do that because it has had nothing to do with hazardous waste incineration other than granting the cement company a long-term lease that began before it began burning the waste.

National Cement President Don Unmacht said Thursday he is optimistic the dispute between the state and federal agencies can be resolved to allow the company to continue operations. But he declined to say what the company would do if EPA remains steadfast.

The state letter and other correspondence were released by Desert Citizens Against Pollution, an Antelope Valley-based environmental group that has doggedly fought the burning of hazardous wastes. The group predicted Thursday that National Cement has in essence lost its fight for new permits.

“We now have the best lawsuit in history if they try to proceed,” said Joe Blackburn, an organizer with the group. “There’s no precedent for ever changing the language” of the law requiring landowners to sign off on a permit application. “Now that the community knows about this, we’re not going to let it go,” Blackburn said.

The cement plant since the early 1980s has burned liquid hazardous wastes as a supplemental fuel, currently at a state-permitted rate of up to 1,200 gallons an hour. The operation at present is a joint venture between Encino-based National Cement and the Systech Environmental Corp.

“It would be a tremendous disappointment if this facility and the beneficial services it provides were eliminated,” said Ted Rauh, acting deputy director of the state toxics department, in a Feb. 7 letter to a top EPA regional official in San Francisco.

“California currently has no other off-site hazardous waste incineration capacity for liquids,” Rauh added. And he urged that EPA officials “not do anything precipitous,” adding that the issues involved “have major ramifications for both agencies and the people of California.”

A spokesman for Rauh acknowledged the letter, released by the environmentalists, was genuine.

State toxics officials acknowledged Thursday that the plant is a “high profile facility.” But they insisted the state was only objecting to denial of the company’s federal permit over the ownership issue, not lobbying the EPA to ensure the permits are actually granted.

Although the issue had not publicly surfaced previously, EPA officials Thursday acknowledged they cited National Cement’s permit application as deficient last year because it did not include an endorsement by Tejon Ranchcorp. EPA officials said they knew of no basis to legally waive that requirement.

The companies and the two government environmental agencies have talked about rewording the document to satisfy Tejon’s concerns about potential perjury, Zanger said. But EPA officials in San Francisco said that too would be unprecedented in this region.