Orange County Neighborhood, JPL Added to Superfund List

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and an Orange County neighborhood where black globs of toxic waste ooze into homeowners’ back yards were added Tuesday to the federal Superfund list of the nation’s most dangerous dump sites.

At JPL, trichloroethylene and other toxic solvents used 40 years ago during research on liquid rocket propellants have leaked into ground water.

The other new Superfund site, in a Westminster residential area, contains trenches of 60-year-old oil-refinery sludge, and is one of the nation’s most unusual and problematic Superfund sites because the waste is amid tract homes, not on an industrial site or military base.

“I’m not aware of any other site like this, certainly in our region. It is a high priority one for us because of the proximity of the residents,” said Dick Vesperman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s project manager for the Westminster site.

Thirty-three sites, including the two in Southern California, were added Tuesday to the Superfund list, bringing the national total to 1,208 dump sites.

JPL was added to the Superfund list mainly because chemicals from its old cesspools have spread into drinking-water wells in Pasadena about half a mile from the laboratory. The city wells that were tainted were temporarily shut down, and the water is being treated to eliminate the toxic chemicals.

Charles Buril, manager of environmental affairs at JPL, stressed that there is no immediate health risk to area residents or JPL’s estimated 7,000 employees.

NASA funds, not Superfund money, will be used to clean up JPL because the site is a federal facility. The significance of the new designation is that EPA will now oversee the investigation and cleanup work.

Some residents will most likely have to leave their homes temporarily while the cleanup occurs.