Cleanup Plan for Oxnard Plant Rejected

A years-long attempt by water-quality regulators to crack down on a beachfront metal recycler in Oxnard stalled again Tuesday, as members of a regional board rejected a cleanup plan considered too weak.

Instead, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board directed staff members to spend the next nine days in further negotiations with attorneys for Halaco Engineering Inc. and environmental groups to strengthen the proposal, which aims to halt daily discharges of a soupy waste the smelting plant produces.

If no agreement can be reached, board members agreed to launch a formal hearing process that could give them the enforcement tools needed to order cleanup of the waste pools and a 40-foot-high slag heap on Halaco’s property. The slag heap has been blamed for two decades of contamination of nearby wetlands, ground water and the ocean.

“We are trying to keep the parties’ feet to the fire,” said board member David Nahai after an eight-hour hearing on the matter Tuesday. “Now they have every incentive in the world to address these issues in a fair and good-faith manner.”

Local environmentalists, who also are fighting Halaco in state and federal courts, applauded the board’s action. About 25 people came to the meeting to criticize the smelting plant, which has occupied the shores of south Oxnard since 1970.

Watchdog Group Hails Water Board’s Decision

“They clearly and decisively said what was given to them was no good and that they want something better,” said Drew Bohan, executive director of Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper, an environmental watchdog group.

“The board did its job today, and the community should be proud.”

Halaco’s regulatory problems heated up two years ago when the water board found evidence that ammonia and other toxic chemicals were seeping from the company’s property into the adjacent Ormond wetlands, potentially harming migratory birds and other wildlife.

Halaco officials have always maintained the plant has never violated its permit or environmental laws, and have vigorously fought attempts to tighten restrictions on its waste-water discharges.

When the regional board was set to adopt a new, tougher permit in November, Halaco unveiled a plan to install a $100,000 filtration system it promised would allay concerns. The system would remove water from the slurry generated by its metal-recycling operation, producing cleaner waste water along with solid material that could be sold for uses such as fertilizer additives.

The board was asked Tuesday to approve a so-called “cease and desist” order that embraced that plan and outlined a timeline for Halaco to convert to the new system, stop the waste-water discharge and begin reducing its slag heap.

Halaco’s attorney, Arthur Fine, said it was a good proposal that resulted from countless hours of hard work on the part of his company and the regional board’s attorneys and experts.

“I’m disappointed after all that effort that it was not accepted,” he said.

But Halaco critics and water quality board members said the document had limited enforcement powers and was fraught with loopholes “big enough for a truck to drive through.”

Furthermore, they argued it provided too much leeway for a company they say has a shoddy track record when it comes to following through on its promises.

Firm’s Record With Agencies Assailed

Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long told the board Halaco has defied several regulatory agencies, showing it is not a good corporate citizen.

The company has been at the center of a number of legal tangles related to air and water quality issues in recent years.

“I find it difficult to trust them,” Long said.