HUNTINGTON BEACH : Unocal Plant Given Clean Bill of Health

A Fire Department investigation has given a clean bill of health to a controversial Unocal crude-oil processing plant in the Huntington Harbour area.

“The overall fire and life-safety conditions (of the Unocal property) were found to be in excellent condition,” said Mark Bodenbender, the Fire Department’s oil-field safety inspector.

But some residents and former residents of the area dispute the Fire Department’s finding. Jon Boag, who formerly lived in an apartment complex next to the Unocal facility at 4541 Heil Ave., charged that the Fire Department’s report was a “whitewash.”

Boag, who said he moved from the area because his two children frequently were becoming ill from alleged noxious vapors, said the Fire Department failed to look into the health complaints of residents.

“All the Fire Department did was read from the same script of Unocal, and that script said that there were no health hazards,” Boag said.

Boag is among about 40 residents and former residents who have complained of health problems they attributed to living near the Unocal plant. Unocal officials on Oct. 1 met with some of the residents.

The Unocal officials said they did not think any health hazards existed at the plant, but they promised to hire an independent analyst to make a “health-risk assessment” of the facility.

The Unocal plant is surrounded by homes and is half a block from Harbour View Elementary School. The plant is used by Unocal to remove water from crude oil that is pumped from an offshore oil drill.

Some residents near the Unocal plant have said there are strange odors from the facility. Residents also have charged that they have suffered breathing problems and severe headaches, which they attribute to fumes from the plant.

The Fire Department made its own study of the plant earlier this month in response to charges raised by Boag and other residents. The City Council will formally receive the Fire Department’s report at its meeting tonight.

That report, authored by Bodenbender, said the Fire Department inspection found no danger from toxic chemicals. Bodenbender’s report noted that some toxics are inherent in crude oil and are thus within the plant. However, his report added: “Documents submitted to me by Union Oil indicate these chemicals are found in such minute quantities they are referred to as ‘existing in an undetectable limit.’ ”

James H. Bridges, who owns property near the Unocal plant, said he will speak on the issue during the public comments portion of the City Council meeting.

Bridges said he does not think the city’s Fire Department is qualified to say whether the Unocal plant is emitting toxic fumes.

“They can look around and say they saw no oily rags, but on something like this (question of airborne toxics), I don’t feel they’re really qualified,” Bridges said.