WESTMINSTER : Residents Meet With EPA Representatives

More than 70 residents met with representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday night to learn more about the agency’s efforts to remove toxic waste from several back yards and a neighboring vacant lot.

The agency has been working on cleaning up the area around a 73-home subdivision near the San Diego Freeway at Golden West Street, where tar-like petroleum waste began seeping up through the ground and forming pools in residents’ back yards and an adjacent lot 12 years ago. The site had been a dumping ground from 1936 until the early 1940s, and the waste was buried in trenches along some back yards when the homes were built in the late 1950s.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control started an investigation in 1987 but turned jurisdiction over to the federal EPA this year after the area was designated a federal Superfund cleanup site. The state is still responsible for providing 10% of the funds to cover cleanup costs, which are expected to run into the millions.

During the three-hour meeting Wednesday, EPA officials outlined the lengthy process to further test the area and remove the potentially hazardous waste, which they estimate is buried two to five feet underground, and in some places as deep as 12 feet.

Tests conducted in March at the vacant lot indicate that “a fair amount” of benzene and sulfuric acid are present, according to EPA contractor David Tomlinson, who guessed that the waste is a byproduct of gasoline or other petrochemical.

The waste could conceivably pose a threat if residents experience long-term exposure, but there does not appear to be any immediate danger, said Terry Brubaker, chief of the agency’s emergency response section.

“We don’t think there’s a significant risk, certainly not an emergency risk, to exposure,” said Brubaker, who noted that the investigation is still in the preliminary stages. A state health services representative defined long-term exposure as over a period of 30 years or more.

Brubaker’s statement relieved many residents, who were concerned that the toxic substance could immediately contribute to health problems.

“It sounds less worse than I expected. Obviously, it’s not an emergency, so that’s good to hear,” said resident Erika Coburn, who lives at the far end of the contaminated side of the neighborhood.

Councilwoman Joy L. Neugebauer agreed that there is not an imminent threat to health. “But the sooner they start corrective action, the sooner the people in the area can live with certainty,” she added.

EPA officials do not expect waste removal to begin until the spring of 1993 or 1994 because of the lengthy bureaucratic process required under Superfund guidelines. More community meetings will be held in coming weeks to survey community opinion and discuss specific issues, such as health risks and setting a timetable for waste removal.

Some residents may face temporary displacement when their yards are excavated, requiring a consensus from residents as to when would be the best time to do the work.