Saugus Firm Is Focus of Probe by U.S. Agencies

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that a Saugus plastics company illegally discharged toxic chemicals, exposed workers to the substances and falsified environmental reports, according to court documents.

The FBI and Environmental Protection Agency seized company records, computers and chemical containers from Keysor Century Corp., a manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, officials said Wednesday. The items were taken during a search Tuesday.

No charges have been filed and the investigation is continuing, authorities said.

FBI agents said in a search warrant affidavit that the family-owned company, once a prominent producer of vinyl records, was making PVC beyond its capacity, causing equipment to malfunction and release “dangerous amounts” of vinyl chloride, which has been linked to liver cancer.

The agents also said in the affidavit that several company officials “knew of the continuous falsification of environmental exposure and emissions data that were submitted to local, state and federal regulatory agencies.”

Calls to Keysor were not returned. Robert Crockett, who represents the company, said Keysor was “fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation. The company intends to comply fully with environmental laws and regulations.”

A 2001 investigation by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health resulted in 63 citations against Keysor for falsifying documents and exceeding air quality limits for vinyl chloride on company property, Cal/OSHA spokeswoman Susan Gard said.

“We conducted our own air monitoring,” Gard said. “The air was 22 times the permissible exposure level for vinyl chloride.”

The company is challenging the $218,000 in fines imposed by Cal/OSHA, Gard said.

State and federal agencies began scrutinizing the company in summer 2001 when a number of fired employees accused Keysor officials of forging documents and violating environmental rules, Gard said.

In the federal affidavit, agents said Keysor employees cited “frequent unreported spills” of contaminated waste water from the plastic-making process. The waste water gushed out of manholes in Keysor’s parking lot at 26000 Springbrook Ave., the affidavit contended.

In November, the Los Angeles County Fire Department cited Keysor for an “intentional or suspicious act” that caused the release of 3,000 gallons of waste water into storm drains. Storm drain samples near the plant exceeded federal limits for vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate and trichloroethylene, the affidavit stated.

One informant told the FBI that the company burned off plastics waste in a gas boiler, which at one point leaked “acidic vapor” and later exploded, the affidavit said.

Among the documents allegedly falsified, agents said, were those that tracked workers’ exposure to vinyl chloride.

FBI lead investigator Kathleen Giles stated in the affidavit that a company file said employee Gary Arment was exposed in 1996 to 0.75 parts per million of vinyl chloride over eight hours--just under the federal limit of 1 part per million. Giles stated in the affidavit that an earlier company report showed that Arment was exposed to 13.71 parts per million.

In 1998, Keysor officials reprimanded a human resources manager for evacuating the plant when a ruptured gasket released 1,000 parts per million of vinyl chloride, Giles said.

The manager “was severely reprimanded by Keysor President Howard Hill and his plant manager, Scott Speakman, who both viewed this action [manager’s order to evacuate the plant] as unnecessary,” according to the affidavit.

Hill died last year. Speakman could not be reached Wednesday. Officials said they have monitored the air quality around the plant and found it to be safe.

Keysor was founded by recording pioneer Bud Keysor. It is now owned by his five children.

In 2000, the company fell out of compliance with South Coast Air Quality Management District rules after the agency lowered the allowable number of estimated cancers that can be contracted by people who breathe a company’s air pollutants over a lifetime. The standard of 100 cancers per million people was reduced to 25 cancers per million.

Keysor was determined to cause an estimated rate of 62 cancers per million people. It and other companies were given until 2003 or 2005 to reduce their toxic emissions. Crockett said he didn’t know whether the company had complied.

In 1996, Cal/OSHA fined Keysor for failing to properly monitor vinyl chloride levels, Gard said. The air quality district fined the company in 1985 for releasing vinyl chloride into the air.