Faulty Gas System May Have Released Toxins

Hazardous gases may have been released into the air this past winter at the Monterey Park landfill by a deteriorating gas control system, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Landfill gases, including methane and cancer-causing vinyl chloride, may have been released into the atmosphere on a number of intermittent days from November, 1993, through March of this year from the Operating Industries Inc. landfill, a federal Superfund site, according to EPA officials.

A system of gas smokestacks designed to burn off the gases was not operating at a high enough temperature, EPA officials said.

“This wouldn’t be considered an immediate health risk,” said Roy Herzig, project manager for the site. “A large proportion of the gases was still being destroyed.”

An EPA monitoring program inside and outside nearby Montebello homes did not indicate a problem with the air in that period, he said. However, the EPA does not have sampling equipment on the stacks, he said.

The landfill, with its 300-foot-high mountain of waste on either side of the Pomona (60) Freeway, was closed in 1984 and placed on the EPA’s list of Superfund sites after it was revealed that the 190-acre dump was contaminated with hazardous waste and polluting the area.

Since then, the EPA has persuaded about 65 blue-chip companies that dumped toxic waste to spend more than $200 million to clean up the site through two specially formed companies, Cure Inc. and New Cure Inc. Last month, 14 cities that used the dump agreed to give the companies $31 million toward the cleanup.

State Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier) said he is concerned that the EPA has not directly rebutted concerns among nearby residents “that cancer-causing chemicals were being spewed out of the smokestacks.”

“The EPA still (hasn’t) satisfied me there’s no ongoing hazard,” he said. In addition, he said the EPA has yet to produce data showing when the burn-off problems occurred because it has to rely on Cure Inc., which operates the stacks, for information. “The EPA needs to be diligent in monitoring this program.”

Brian Ullensvang, an EPA project manager, said the agency will give more specific information about the number of days the temperature fell below 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, the required temperature, when it receives the information from Cure Inc. in about two weeks.

However, he said, a January sample “showed a number of days with temperatures below 1,350 degrees.” Bud Neumann, Cure project coordinator, declined to answer questions, deferring to the EPA.

Frank Caponi, an engineer for the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, said a temperature below 1,400 degrees on a stack means higher exposure for nearby homes. “Whoever is downstream is exposed to greater level of toxics.”

Without the gas system, landfill gases would migrate through the soil into nearby homes. Herzig said even with the system, 4% percent of 197 homes near the landfill in Montebello tested for hazardous substances last year had high levels of vinyl chloride. The EPA installed special barriers under their foundations to prevent further problems.

“I don’t think the EPA is protecting anyone. . . . There is no safe level of vinyl chloride,” said Phyllis Rabins, a Monterey Park resident who was instrumental in forcing the landfill’s closure. She said three schools are within a mile of the landfill.

EPA officials say the low temperature from the gas control system was solved in March by repairing pipes that had deteriorated.

Herzig said the system was mostly built by the old landfill owners; this summer Cure will replace a large number of gas pipes and in the future will install a new gas extraction system at a cost of $6 million to $14 million.