Jasco Emissions Suit Settled
A nonprofit environmental group said Tuesday that it has settled a lawsuit that accused a Santa Ana chemical plant of failing to warn workers and residents of toxic emissions.
California Community Health Advocates, a Bay Area nonprofit organization, sued Mountain View-based Jasco Chemical Corp. on Nov. 19 in Orange County Superior Court contending that the company was releasing tons of methylene chloride into the air from its Santa Ana plant in the 1000 block of Fuller Street.
The group filed the suit under Proposition 65, a 1986 voter initiative that requires businesses to post warnings of any chemicals on the premises that might cause cancer or reproductive problems.
Michael Freund, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said companies must warn the public about methylene chloride emissions over about 8,000 pounds per year.
In 1997, Jasco, a household cleaner and solvent manufacturer, reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it emitted 25,787 pounds of the carcinogen, according to the lawsuit. But the company did not inform the public by publishing the notices required under Proposition 65, the suit claims.
A settlement of the case was already in the works when the suit was filed, Freund said. Jasco has agreed to install a vapor-recovery machine costing up to $100,000 that will cut emissions of methylene chloride to about 150 pounds a year, he said.
“The emissions are going to be so low once they complete the system in January that the emissions aren’t going to have any effect on anybody,” Freund said.
The company also agreed to pay $69,000 to various groups in the settlement, which is expected to be approved next week. Freund’s organization will receive $23,000 plus $21,000 in attorney fees.
Freund said he does not know of anyone who was injured by the emissions. This settlement, he added, will not prevent any personal-injury lawsuits.
Attempts to reach Jasco officials were unsuccessful, and attorney Thomas H. Clarke, who represented Jasco, declined to discuss the case.
