13 Suspected Polluters Put on Notice for Cleanup Costs : Environment: The EPA contacts firms regarding contaminated ground water in North Hollywood. Lawsuits may follow.

In a new phase of its drive against suspected polluters, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given 13 business and property owners formal notice that they may be ordered to contribute millions of dollars to the Superfund cleanup of polluted ground water in North Hollywood.

In identical letters to the firms dated Wednesday, the EPA said their operations had “resulted in the contamination of soils . . . and may have resulted in the contamination of ground water with hazardous substances.”

The agency “in the future . . . may send you a letter containing a demand for payment” of cleanup costs, stated the letters to the firms, all of them in North Hollywood and Sun Valley.

At least some of the names probably will be referred to the Justice Department in September for a cost recovery suit, said Chris Stubbs, an official with the Superfund program at the EPA’s San Francisco regional office.

Should new information develop, Stubbs said, “we could add people to this list, or drop people from this list, when it actually comes down to suing.”

The letters give the companies a chance “to educate themselves” and “hire an attorney . . . so that when something really happens, they’ll be prepared for it,” he said.

The notices involved eight industrial sites in North Hollywood and Sun Valley near Los Angeles city water supply wells that have been polluted by perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene--common chemical solvents that have been widely used to degrease metal and for other cleaning tasks.

Because some sites have separate owners and operators, there were 13 letters in all.

The firms were identified as potential polluters by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, a state agency that conducts Superfund investigations for the EPA. The letters appeared to acknowledge that there is no proof that pollution from the firms traveled far enough through soil to hit ground water. That would not, however, stop the agency from going after them under the broad provisions of the Superfund law.

Under the Superfund program, the EPA identifies the nation’s worst toxic sites and tries to force those responsible to pay cleanup costs. Those accused have strong incentives to offer a financial settlement. If they contend they didn’t pollute, but are found liable in court, they can be made to pay treble damages.

Most prominent on the list was Lockheed Corp., which is already bound by a consent decree to run a large-scale ground-water cleanup in Burbank. Stubbs said the firm’s agreement with the government does not protect it from further liability for ground-water pollution in North Hollywood.

Lockheed’s letter referred to its C-1 plant in the 10700 block of Sherman Way. That is east of the Lockheed plants implicated in the Burbank ground-water problem.

Lockheed spokesman Scott Hallman said Friday that the firm was closed for the holiday and that he was unaware of the notice.

Another notice was sent to Allied-Signal Inc. for its plant in the 11600 block of Sherman Way. A company executive said he knew nothing about the letter. “You’re hitting me cold,” he said.

Others receiving notices included Pacific Steel Treating Co. Inc. and E/M Corp., both on Farmdale Avenue; Hawker Pacific Inc. in the 11300 block of Sherman Way; Remo Inc., in the 12800 block of Raymer Street; Fleetwood Machine Products Inc. in the 11400 block of Vanowen Street, and Raintree Buckles & Jewelry Inc., in the 7100 block of Laurel Canyon Blvd.

A vast area of the San Fernando Valley has been designated for Superfund cleanup because of pollution that has shut down water supply wells of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the cities of Burbank and Glendale and the Crescenta Valley County Water District. Stubbs said the latest action is intended to recover about $2.5 million the EPA has spent on a pilot treatment plant in North Hollywood, and about $7 million or $8 million of the costs of investigating the Valley-wide problem.

In Burbank, Lockheed is to build and operate a large ground-water treatment system with contributions from at least two other parties.

Lockheed estimated its costs alone will hit $125 million.

But company officials have also said they expect to recover most of their costs from the Department of Defense, their biggest customer. The company said it charges its customers a proportional share of such business expenses, and the Pentagon and other government agencies account for more than 80% of Lockheed’s business.