Halaco Is Guilty of Pollution

An Oxnard metal recycler under fire for years by environmentalists and government regulators faces up to $80,000 in fines after a jury Tuesday found it guilty of three misdemeanor counts for polluting the air near its shoreline plant.

Jurors deliberated just two hours before returning verdicts against Halaco Engineering Co., which recycles aluminum and magnesium scrap.

The jury found that Halaco negligently allowed employees to release noxious fumes into the air in violation of state health and safety codes and violated two provisions of an air quality permit regulating its operations.

The verdicts mark the first time in Ventura County history that a corporation has been convicted on criminal charges for fouling the air, and prosecutors warned that other polluters would face harsh penalties if caught harming the environment.

“I hope there are no other Halacos out there, but they should take notice that if they are caught they will be prosecuted criminally,” said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Mitchell Disney, who works in the district attorney’s consumer and environmental protection unit.

The verdicts were a blow to Halaco, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year amid government lawsuits alleging that its shoreline operations had released toxic materials into the air and water.

The company, which has operated in Oxnard for nearly 40 years and employs about 25 people, is facing at least three lawsuits in state and federal courts. Tuesday’s verdicts mark the first time the company has been convicted of a crime.

At trial, prosecutors alleged that Halaco allowed a plume of poisonous smoke to drift out of its plant near Ormond Beach, in violation of air pollution laws.

An Oxnard city employee observed the plume Jan. 8 and filed a complaint with the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.

An inspector for the agency responded and cited the company for violating permit requirements designed to keep harmful emissions from drifting into the environment.

Ronald DiNicola, a Los Angeles attorney representing Halaco, said company employees shut down the plant’s air filter system the afternoon of Jan. 8 to clean it. DiNicola acknowledged that one worker forgot to close a fume hood on a smelting furnace, but dismissed it as a mistake that did not warrant a criminal conviction.

But jurors interviewed after Tuesday’s verdicts said they believed Halaco should have done more to train its workers and comply with environmental laws.

“We all found there were some steps that could have been taken that were not,” one juror said.

“I don’t think the employees knew what the rules were,” juror Bill Wilson of Moorpark said. “I think what we are trying to say is, ‘Here is an opportunity to come into compliance.’ ”

Wilson said he wondered whether county air quality inspectors could have done more to ensure that Halaco was complying with its permit.

“It’s a small company and, like one of my fellow jurors mentioned, a lot of times in the small mom-and-pop operations, the regulatory agencies don’t pay attention,” he said.

But Disney said that was not the case with Halaco.

Since 2000, the Air Pollution Control District has received 97 complaints about the recycler’s operations, making Halaco the single largest source of air pollution complaints in Ventura County, the prosecutor said.

Those numbers were not shared with jurors during the trial. Retired Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath, who presided over the case, ruled the information inadmissible.

Although Halaco had never before faced criminal charges, the recycler has a long history of regulatory and legal troubles.

The Environmental Protection Agency sued Halaco in 1980, saying the facility was discharging waste into sensitive wetlands at Ormond Beach, situated next to the company’s 43-acre plant.

Eight years later, after a series of claims and counterclaims, the California Supreme Court ruled in Halaco’s favor, saying the EPA had doctored some of its paperwork.

In 1986, the same court rejected a push by the California Coastal Commission for tighter pollution standards.

Since then, a Santa Barbara-based environmental group has sued Halaco in federal and state courts for releasing toxic materials into the air and water.

The state Regional Water Quality Control Board has also ordered Halaco to stop discharging waste that has yielded 40-foot-high slag heaps near Ormond Beach. A company official last year said Halaco would spend at least $1 million to meet the agency’s demands.

And last fall, state and local prosecutors sued the company, alleging that it illegally dumped motor oil. A trial date is set for next year.

In the criminal case, sentencing is set for Sept. 17. In addition to fines, Disney and Mike Villegas, executive officer for the Air Pollution Control District, said they will recommend that as a term of probation McGrath impose requirements to ensure that the company complies with environmental laws.

“I think the company will take notice,” Halaco attorney DiNicola said Tuesday. “We’re disappointed, but one has to keep in mind it is a misdemeanor case.”

DiNicola said his client has worked hard to stay in business in the face of “reams and reams and reams of regulations” that are making it harder for industries to stay in California.

“I think you have to recognize Halaco is competing in a global economy,” he said, adding that in terms of compliance, “we do everything we reasonably can.”