Waste Haulers Fined in Toxic Material Spill
A hazardous waste hauler and an employee were fined a total of $3,255 Thursday after pleading no contest to violating state law during a 1995 spill in Mission Hills, authorities said.
Fined were Canyon Country resident Thomas Martin, owner of Newhall-based Martin Environmental, and driver Esteban Somoza Donis of Woodland Hills. Los Angeles Municipal Judge Harold Crowder ordered Martin to pay $1,755 and Donis to pay $1,500.
Both pleaded no contest to a single charge of transporting hazardous material in a leaky container, said Deputy City Atty. Rubin Harsoyo, who prosecuted the case.
The charges stemmed from a July 25, 1995, incident in which a tractor-trailer truck driven by Donis leaked cadmium and nickel as it traveled west on San Fernando Mission Boulevard near Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Mission Hills. Police stopped the truck after noticing a container lacked the proper hazardous waste certification and observing that waste was leaking onto the street, Harsoyo said.
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