Abandoned Refinery Tanks Are Drained in Toxic Cleanup : Pollution: Petroleum Recycling has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of illegally disposing of hazardous waste at Wright Terminals.

The last of the huge tanks that held petroleum waste at an abandoned oil refinery in Long Beach has been drained, eliminating the danger of large spills or an explosion, officials said.

“There is no imminent danger to people living around the site,” said Rich Varenchik, a spokesman for the California Environmental Protection Agency.

The final 200,000 gallons of oil-tainted water were drained last month from a tank at the abandoned refinery, known as Wright Terminals, near Cherry Avenue and Spring Street. The site is surrounded by light industry and the San Diego Freeway (405).

The cleanup was the result of a criminal investigation and prosecution of a Signal Hill oil recycler, Petroleum Recycling Corp. Officials alleged that the company illegally piped the waste into a tank at Wright Terminals.

Petroleum Recycling pleaded no contest Tuesday in Long Beach Superior Court to a misdemeanor charge of illegally disposing of hazardous waste at Wright Terminals. The company also agreed to pay $60,000 in fines.

Judge Richard F. Charvat closed the case after hearing testimony that the firm had properly disposed of the waste.

Company Vice President Gary Leger said Wednesday that Petroleum Recycling Corp. spent more than $100,000 to clean the tank.

“We still vehemently maintain that we didn’t put that material in there,” Leger said. “But we’re happy to have it resolved and over with.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph P. Charney, who prosecuted the case, said the outcome was successful because the tank was drained of potentially flammable waste at no expense to taxpayers.

“We’re happy that the tank is cleaned up and there’s no more danger from it,” Charney said.

More than 1.7 million gallons of hazardous waste was removed earlier this year from other tanks at the abandoned refinery.

Minor amounts of petroleum products in the bottom of the tanks and in pipelines on the site still need to be removed, said Jim Ross, senior engineer for the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is overseeing the cleanup.

In addition, the ground at the site is tainted, and past tests have indicated at least some ground water is contaminated to a depth of 85 feet, officials said.

More testing is needed to determine the extent of the contamination, they said.

Ross said he has begun discussions with the out-of-state owner of the site, Robert Zander, to get him to pay to demolish the rusting refinery and clean up the site. Officials hope the work will begin next year.

The former Western Oil Refinery was last operated as a bulk-fuel storage and blending terminal by Wright Cos. of Las Vegas, Nev., which leased the five-acre property from Zander. Wright Cos. declared bankruptcy and abandoned the site in 1991.

CalEPA took control of the site in May, 1991, citing a threat of explosion from fumes emanating from storage tanks. CalEPA has spent about $200,000 on the site, Varenchik said.

But state and local officials have also been aggressive in finding ways to clean the site without spending public funds.

The first breakthrough in the effort came in September, 1991, when state and local officials announced that they had reached an agreement with a local company to remove more than 1.7 million gallons of oil-tainted water from about 20 storage tanks on the site.

Paramount Petroleum Corp. had no previous involvement with Wright Terminals, but the firm had violated clean-air regulations at its plant with excessive emissions and odors. It absorbed the cost of removing and recycling the waste from the tanks. In exchange, the South Coast Air Quality Management District forgave about $200,000 in fines that were to be levied against the firm for the violations.