EPA’s Final Toxic Waste Cleanup Plan Still Opposed : Environment: New proposal is only slightly different than one presented in September. But residents seem resigned to it.

The Environmental Protection Agency released its final cleanup plan for a toxic waste site in Santa Fe Springs this week, and admitted it was virtually unchanged from a plan presented four months ago to residents--who attacked it as being unsafe.

The final plan calls for excavating contaminated soil from a portion of the 43-acre Waste Disposal Inc. site and confining the toxic waste to 20 acres, which would be capped. The cap would be impermeable plastic topped with a combination of asphalt and landscaping, said Rusty Harris-Bishop, EPA project manager.

In September, the EPA proposed covering the entire area with asphalt, an idea scorned by residents who said it would look like a giant parking lot, simply hiding a brew of deadly chemicals.

The only real difference in the new plan is that instead of proposing an asphalt cap, it would allow a combination of asphalt and landscaping, Harris-Bishop said.

The important thing is that no rainwater can seep in to carry contaminants to the underground drinking water supply, Harris-Bishop said.

The site, which fronts Greenleaf Avenue and Los Nietos Road, has been on the EPA’s list of Superfund sites since 1987. Studies show the soil is contaminated with arsenic, benzene, benzopyrene and polychlorinated biphenyls, suspected of causing brain damage and cancer. The former landfill accepted toxic industrial materials and waste from oil drilling and refining from the late 1920s until 1964.

The cost of the cleanup, including 30 years of monitoring, had been estimated at $5.5 million. Because landscaping is cheaper than asphalt, the new plan will probably cost less than $5.2 million, Harris-Bishop said.

After EPA officials have created a basic design, which could include tennis and basketball courts, they will meet with residents to solicit comments on the proposal, Harris-Bishop said.

But residents and city officials appeared to have little confidence they could change the minds of EPA staff.

“Whatever they decide is what we live with,” Councilwoman Betty Wilson said.

“It’s the federal government. We don’t have a lot of choice,” City Manager Don Powell said.

Some people had hoped to persuade the EPA to excavate the entire site and move the contaminated soil elsewhere. But Harris-Bishop said the site includes 750,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and a 42-million-gallon concrete-lined container filled with industrial waste.

“We figured out that if we excavated, that would mean 50 dump trucks traveling through the city every day for nearly three years,” Harris-Bishop said. “And that would seriously impact the air quality there.”

After hearing of the EPA’s estimate of the toxic-truck parade that would be required for excavation, businessman Carlos Aguilar agreed that it might not be the best solution.

But he is still skeptical of the plan to simply cap the site. His daughter attends St. Paul High School, next to the contaminated field, and he remains concerned that toxic substances could leak into the water supply. Already, the water at St. Paul is dark and people are afraid to drink it, he said.

“I just don’t know they are really going to be able to keep it out of the water,” Aguilar said.

EPA officials say the water supply is their first concern. The cap design will be chosen based on its ability to keep rain from running through the old dump and into the water table, Harris-Bishop said.