Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : EPA to Hold Hearing on Plan to Bar Use of Incinerator

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public hearing tonight on its proposal to bar continued operation of a hazardous waste incinerator near Gorman.

The hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds on Division Street near Avenue I, involves a tentative decision to reject National Cement Co.’s application for the permit it needs to keep using waste solvents to fuel its cement kiln on land leased from Tejon Ranch Co.

The EPA announced the proposed decision last month, but said it will withdraw it if Encino-based National Cement cures a longstanding deficiency in its permit application.

Agency officials said they cannot continue to process National’s application until the company satisfies a federal requirement that applications be signed by owners, as well as operators, of hazardous waste sites.

Tejon Ranch, which has refused to sign, has agreed in principle to sell National the land around the incinerator, which would resolve the issue. But National officials have balked at the purchase until they are assured the company will receive the permit. The EPA, in turn, has said it can’t continue processing the permit until the ownership matter is resolved.

Times Mirror Co., which publishes the Los Angeles Times, owns 30% of Tejon Ranch.

National Cement and prior operators of the kiln have used hazardous wastes as fuel for cement production since 1982. The company’s old permit expired in 1991, but the firm until now has been allowed to continue burning waste while state and federal authorities review its new application.