SANTA ANA : $3,040 Hazmat Bill Reversed by County

A 75-year-old great-grandmother who was initially billed $3,040.49 by the county to dispose of her late husband’s old photographic mixing solutions will not have to pay the tab, according to officials at the Hazardous Materials Authority.

The authority’s board of directors last week voted unanimously to reverse the charges against Ruth Carson of Santa Ana after her story provoked a public outcry.

Carson received the staggering bill in June--a month after she found two bottles of crystals in her garage and took them to the Orange Police Department in an effort to do her environmental duty. Carson had figured that the bottles contained leftover photographic chemicals that her husband had used to develop his pictures. However, she dropped the bottles off at the Police Department for disposal rather than throwing them out because of her concern for the environment.

But in June, an unexpected bill came in the mail demanding payment within 14 days. Carson, a widow living on a fixed income, thought there had been a mistake and contacted county hazardous materials officials.

However, they told her that the bill was correct and that it reflected the cost of sending a Hazmat team to the Police Department to respond to the May 6 incident.

Officials eventually determined that the unknown substances were just what Carson suspected and simply dissolved the crystals in water. However, they said, the base fee for Hazmat response is about $560 per hour and can typically run into thousands of dollars.

Officials say Carson could have probably avoided the unpleasant situation if she had taken the bottles to one of three designated household waste disposal sites in Orange County rather than to the police station.