Suit Names O.C. Maker of Cleaner : Environment: The Huntington Beach-based producer says testing shows Simple Green won’t hurt fish as charged by D.A.s from three counties.

The district attorneys of three Northern California counties have filed a lawsuit against the Orange County makers of Simple Green, a cleaning product advertised as nontoxic, alleging that the product can be hazardous to fish when improperly dumped.

The suit--filed in Monterey Superior Court by the district attorneys of Monterey, Salinas and San Joaquin counties--accuses Huntington Beach-based Sunshine Makers of unfair business practices, misleading advertising, water pollution and improper disposal of hazardous waste.

“There are 33 million people living in California now so you cannot continue to put soaps and grease into our lakes and rivers anymore,” said David Irey, a deputy district attorney for San Joaquin County. “Someone had to draw a line somewhere about putting soap into our water.”

Joleigh Ernst, spokesperson for firm, said that the company had been notified that it has been sued but had not yet received a copy of the suit. The counties are asking for as much as $6 million in fines. Ernst denied the charges and called the fines “excessive.”

Ernst said the company has cooperated with the counties and state regulators for months and is “stunned” at the filing. Simple Green is an all-purpose cleaner and degreaser that was developed 20 years ago and has been sold as a household cleaner since the mid-1980s.

The district attorneys said in the suit filed in Monterey Superior Court that Simple Green was advertised as a nontoxic cleaner that can be used and rinsed off an engine, suggesting there is no need for special disposal practices. The district attorneys said tests showed that the substance can be hazardous to fish.

Lydia Villarreal, deputy district attorney in Monterey, said her county received a complaint that auto-detailing companies were using Simple Green to clean car engines and then washing the product into storm drains, sending Simple Green directly into Monterey Bay.

“This was killing fish. Our tests showed Simple Green was dangerous to aquatic life and, as you know, Monterey Bay is a marine sanctuary,” said Villarreal.

But Ernst said the tests conducted by the company have shown that Simple Green is not harmful. She said the company spent millions of dollars testing the product. She also said the company started testing mixtures of the product, dirt and water on fish beginning last year.

“The results show the (mixture) is not deleterious to fish,” Ernst said. “The district attorneys asked us for scientific information backing the studies two months ago and we provided a response to them in January.”

Ernst said the company first heard from officials at the California Environmental Protection Agency who were concerned about an advertisement the company placed in the Bass Times, a fishing journal, in January, 1992.

CEPA officials asked the company last July to perform tests showing the substance was safe. The company reported its results in September, saying it had complied with the state’s testing guidelines. Ernst said the company encourages its customers to dispose of all waste properly.

Villarreal said the counties were considering filing an injunction to stop Simple Green’s advertising.

“If someone is using Simple Green to wash their bathtub, it’s probably not a problem because that water usually goes into the sewage,” she said. “But if you use it as Simple Green advertises that you can, like washing your boat and then washing Simple Green into the lake, then that’s a problem. And we would like to see that changed immediately.”