SANTA CLARITA / ANTELOPE VALLEY : EPA Orders Firm to Stop Burning Hazardous Waste

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday ordered National Cement Co. of California to quit burning hazardous waste at its kiln near Gorman.

The order gives National Cement four weeks to stop burning spent, hazardous solvents in the kiln to generate heat needed in the cement-making process. The EPA said earlier this week that it expected to issue the order within a few days.

National Cement officials could not be reached for comment. Executives at the Tejon Ranch Co., which owns the land where the kiln stands, also could not be reached for comment. Tejon Ranch is about 30% owned by Times Mirror Co., publisher of The Times.

As previously reported, National Cement has vowed to appeal the EPA’s order to the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. National Cement has said it will also seek that court’s permission to keep operating the incinerator until the court acts on its appeal.

The court is expected to hear National Cement’s appeal before the EPA’s order goes into effect Aug. 25. The order also applies to Systech Environmental Corp., which receives and processes chemicals at the kiln site.

Environmentalists, who have waged a long battle to stop the waste burning, applauded Thursday’s action by the EPA’s San Francisco office. It followed the agency’s decision last week not to hear National Cement’s appeal of an earlier EPA decision denying the company a permit to continue burning the waste.

“We’re very pleased with the decision,” said Stormy Williams, of Desert Citizens Against Pollution. The small group, made up of people who live near the kiln site, has been fighting to stop the waste burning since 1989.

The EPA has said the incinerator is the only operating commercial hazardous waste burner in California.

National Cement is a unit of Vicat, a large French cement concern.