Recycler Cited for Toxic Chemical Discharges

A metal recycler is leaking a toxic chemical into valuable coastal wildlife habitat and has released radioactive substances that may have reached a storm drain that empties into the Pacific, according to state regulators.

Citing sloppy housekeeping, state water quality officials investigating the plant said they issued a notice to Halaco Engineering Inc. on Monday for six types of violations, which were discovered during two inspections last summer.

The infractions focus on shortcomings in the company’s defenses to prevent contaminants escaping from heaps of slag on its property and entering the environment. This enforcement action is just the latest in a series of complaints against the recycler.

Although the health risk appears minimal, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board is moving swiftly to bring the company into compliance. Halaco is under orders to prepare a cleanup plan within 30 days or face penalties of up to $10,000 for each day per violation, said Wendy Phillips, chief of enforcement and remediation for the water quality board.

“There is no significant human health risk,” Phillips said. ‘We want to evaluate it and be sure the public is not exposed to radioactivity.”

Of more immediate concern is a discharge of ammonia-laced water that officials say is flowing into wetlands at Ormond Beach, a magnet for migratory birds who use the site to dine upon fish and invertebrates.

The discharges flowing from the east side of the waste pile contain concentrations of ammonia known to be toxic to fish and wildlife, according to a letter the water board sent to Halaco on Monday.

“We take protection of those wetlands very seriously,” Phillips said. “We’re very concerned about those ammonia levels because they are harmful to aquatic life, but there’s not a public health risk from those levels.”

Dave Gable, environmental compliance manager for Halaco, downplayed any danger posed by the contamination, and promised full cooperation with investigators, although he contested some of the allegations.

“As far as we know, we are complying with the discharge requirements,” Gable said. “We would never knowingly violate these regulations. Halaco takes any violation very seriously, and we are going to comply with the rules that are imposed on us.”