Dispute Over Runoff From Pollution Site Takes Unusual Twist

State environmental officials and the former operator of a Canyon Country oil recycling business clashed Wednesday over possible damage from runoff that poured from the polluted site during the recent heavy rains.

In an unusual reversal of roles, the oil recycler--accused of polluting the site in the first place--condemned environmental officials for failing to contain the runoff. They, in turn, voiced doubt it would do any harm.

The war of words involves the old Lubrication Co. of America plant on Lang Station Road--a state Superfund site that has been taken over by state officials and partially cleaned up with millions of dollars in public funds.

Grant Ivey, who ran the plant--and has contended it was never polluted enough to be deemed a Superfund site--said Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of gallons of runoff flowed from the site into the nearby Santa Clara River because authorities failed to drain the water or raise an earthen dike.

On a visit to the site last Saturday, Ivey said, he saw water spilling over the top of the foot-tall dike. When he returned Monday, Ivey said he found a break in the dike and water pouring into the river, which recharges downstream water supply wells.

“I don’t really know if the water was contaminated, but . . . nothing is supposed to be let off” a Superfund site, Ivey said.

If the runoff was polluted, state officials “are guilty of pollution,” he said. “If it’s not, then why is the place called a Superfund site?”

Officials with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control said they did not know how much runoff left the site or if any flowed into the river.

But Rich Varenchik, a spokesman for the agency in Burbank, said he did “not think there’s any reason to be concerned.” He said it is uncertain if there will be testing to gauge the possible effect.

According to Varenchik, an agency official checked the dike Friday and reported it had plenty of capacity left, and “seemed to be holding fine.”

Varenchik said another official inspected on Tuesday, found a small hole in the dike and repaired it.

Officials noted that when heavy rains filled the dike two years ago, a heavy oil slick rose from the petroleum-saturated earth and was skimmed off by cleanup crews.

This time, Varenchik said, there was no oily film on the water in the dike. What’s left “out there now is the type of heavy petroleum that binds to the soil,” he said. “I certainly would not assume that a lot of petroleum-type stuff left the site.”

Ivey contended that his company had shown more concern about polluted runoff than state officials. He said that when his recycling business was operating, rainwater inside the dike was pumped into a tank and allowed to evaporate--thus avoiding polluted runoff.

Ivey has “never been happy with the fact that we’re out there,” Varenchik said.

“We didn’t want to take this site over. We asked him to do this work, and he wouldn’t do it, or couldn’t afford it. . . . We feel like we’ve done a really good job.”

The state has spent about $4 million on environmental studies and cleanup, hiring contractors to remove 25 drums of asbestos material and 358 drums of stored hazardous wastes. Officials said another 134,000 gallons of sludge and waste oil laced with toxic mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been removed from storage tanks, while another 69,000 gallons of excavated soil have been hauled away for disposal.

The state is still expected to dismantle and remove structures and to cap or remove soil stained by petroleum, chemical solvents, lead and PCBs.

Varenchik said state officials are seeking cleanup funds from companies and agencies that supplied waste oil to the company. He said state officials are negotiating with about two dozen “potentially responsible parties,” including the Department of Defense.