EPA Sues Industrial and Landfill Site Owners, Operators

True to its word, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has sued the owners and operators of four industrial and landfill sites who have refused to help pay for ground-water treatment in North Hollywood under the federal Superfund toxic cleanup program.

The lawsuit, filed this week in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles, is part of the EPA’s effort to recover $17.2 million in costs for the North Hollywood cleanup and a wider investigation of ground-water pollution in the San Fernando Valley.

The EPA previously had identified owners and operators of 10 industrial and landfill sites as potential contributors to chemical pollution that has idled municipal water supply wells. Agency officials earlier this month said it would sue those who refuse to contribute while seeking a settlement with the others.

The suit, filed by Justice Department lawyers on the EPA’s behalf, names AlliedSignal Aerospace of the 11500 and 11600 blocks of Sherman Way in North Hollywood; California Car Hikers Service, an auto salvage firm at the former Tuxford landfill in Sun Valley; Los Angeles By-Products Co., owner of the former Penrose landfill in Sun Valley, and Hawker-Pacific Inc. of Sun Valley, and owners of the Hawker-Pacific site.

“We have not seen the EPA suit but . . . we don’t feel that we’ve contributed to any ground-water contamination at that location,” Vern Alexander, manager of public relations for AlliedSignal, said Wednesday.

A lawyer for California Car Hikers earlier this month signaled the firm’s intention to fight the lawsuit, saying the company was “outraged . . . to all of a sudden get a notice from the federal government that they want an exorbitant amount of money and they want it ASAP.”

Hawker-Pacific officials could not be reached for comment.

Thomas P. Mintz, assistant regional counsel for the EPA in San Francisco, said the agency hopes to reach a settlement within several weeks with the other firms, including Lockheed Corp. and Waste Management Disposal Services of California, operator of the Bradley West landfill in Sun Valley.

The $17.2 million sought by the EPA--recently revised upward from $16.8 million--includes $5.6 million to build and run a ground-water treatment plant now operating on Los Angeles Department of Water and Power property on Vose Street in North Hollywood. The remainder is for past costs of ground-water studies and for legal expenses.

Areas of North Hollywood, Burbank and Glendale have been designated for cleanup under the Superfund program due to lake-size plumes of tainted water that have invaded clusters of municipal water supply wells.

The culprits are cleaning solvents--particularly trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene--widely used for dry cleaning and degreasing metal parts. The chemicals are thought to have been spilled or leaked by many companies over the years and to have seeped through the soil to ground water.