McDonnell Douglas Sued Over Emissions : Courts: State says public health endangered by Southland plants’ release of cancer-causing chemicals.

McDonnell Douglas Corp. facilities throughout the Southland are releasing hazardous levels of cancer-causing chemicals that pose “serious health risks” to hundreds of thousands of people, according to a pair of lawsuits filed this week by the state attorney general’s office.

The suits seek to ensure that McDonnell Douglas notify residents around its facilities of the potential health risks, and that it be ordered to reduce its emission levels of the chemicals.

“These are serious health risks and the public should know that they are in risk,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Gail Ruderman Feuer, who filed the suits in Los Angeles County Superior Court and Orange County Superior Court on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

A spokesman for McDonnell Douglas’ corporate offices could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but a spokesman at the Huntington Beach facility denied that the company was violating state air quality standards.

“We’ve been in compliance since 1985,” said spokesman Tom Williams. “Allegation of a threat to the health of hundreds of thousands of people is totally without merit. We are well within the emissions standards of the AQMD.”

However, Feuer said that according to the company’s own data filed with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, several toxic chemicals are being released at hazardous levels from facilities in Huntington Beach, Torrance, Long Beach and Culver City.

The hazardous condition exists for many people who work and live around the facilities, she said.

“People do not need to live across the street to be at risk, they can be quite a bit away,” Feuer said.

In part the lawsuits fall under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, known as Proposition 65. The sweeping anti-toxics initiative requires businesses to provide “clear and reasonable” warnings to the public if there is significant exposure to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm.

McDonnell Douglas has published newspaper advertisements about the toxic emissions, but Feuer said they were “totally inadequate.”

“The ads are small, fail to say who’s exposed, doesn’t say it’s a warning and are very confusing,” she said.

The attorney general’s office is also seeking as much as $2,500 a day for each day the company’s emissions have violated the law since January, 1988.

Williams of McDonnell Douglas, who said he had not seen a copy of the lawsuit, criticized the attorney general’s office for seeking an injunction to reduce emission levels.

“As jobs are leaving California in droves, you have to wonder what this is all about,” he said. “If we were forced to stop polluting altogether or reduce the emissions further, we would have to leave the state of California. We believe we are in compliance.”

Feuer responded: “We don’t want to shut them down. We want them to give the warning required by law.”

Among the chemicals being released by the four facilities are known carcinogens such as hexavalent chromium, dioxane, lead and methyl chloroform, more commonly known as trichloroethane, according the lawsuits. The chemicals are used and released during the manufacture of aircraft and aerospace components, according to the suits.

The suits further allege that McDonnell Douglas “knowingly and intentionally” emits these chemicals, which are “dispersed into the open air and are blown downwind, where thousands of persons breathe these chemicals.”

“Such releases expose thousands of people to risks of cancer, and other acute and chronic adverse health effect,” the suits state.

Although the health risks are “significant,” Feuer said that the increased exposure “does not mean everyone in the community will develop cancer.” She said significant risk is defined as more than one additional case of cancer occurring out of a community of 100,000 people.

Feuer added that the attorney general’s office is not aware of a single case of cancer linked to the company’s emissions.

She said that McDonnell Douglas’ own documents show that the numbers of people at risk are as follows: about 12,000 around the facility at 19503 S. Normandie Ave. in Torrance, 160,000 around the facility at 6775 Centennial Ave. in Culver City, 100,000 around the facility at 3855 Lakewood Blvd. in Long Beach and 56,000 around the facility at 5301 Bolsa Ave. in Huntington Beach.