Federal Cleanup to Begin at Whittier Waste Storage Site

Federal environmental agents served a search warrant Tuesday at a Whittier hazardous waste storage site where toxic solvents were leaking from containers and posing a threat to the community.

Cleanup crews will be at the Omega Chemical Corp. facility in the 12500 block of East Whittier Boulevard for at least two months to remove and dispose of hazardous materials and to decontaminate and dispose of equipment exposed to the waste, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Kurt Zimmerman.

Zimmerman, who is with the civil section of the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to say if the U.S. Justice Department will seek civil or criminal action in the case.

Omega Chemical owned and operated the spent-solvent-recycling facility from 1976-91, according to court documents. The firm’s president, Dennis O’Meara, could not be reached for comment.

The U.S. attorney’s office obtained the search warrant under the Superfund statute for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is organizing the cleanup.

In court papers in support of the warrant, Zimmerman wrote that the EPA has “determined that conditions at the site may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health, welfare or the environment.” The facility is across the street from a neighborhood and within a mile of three elementary and two high schools.