$200,000 Fine for Dumping

A Sun Valley aerospace company was ordered Thursday to pay more than $200,000 in fines for illegally dumping nickel and other hazardous waste into the Los Angeles city sewer system.

Hawker Pacific Aerospace entered a no-contest plea in Superior Court to a single violation of the state’s health code after routine monitoring of the sewer system detected the illegal dumping.

“It’s significant because they are paying a high price for violating the law,” said Deputy City Atty. Elise Ruden.

“It sends a message to companies that this is something we’re not going to tolerate.”

The company, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik, primarily overhauls landing gear for commercial aircraft. The Sun Valley plant does chrome plating and manufactures bushings for landing gear.

“It was a plumbing error that caused the problem, and it has been corrected,” said Jeffrey W. Kramer, an attorney for the company, who said the firm “regrets” the mistake.

In addition to requiring the firm to pay fines and investigative costs, Superior Court Judge Daniel Feldstern sentenced the company to 24 months of probation.

City workers conducting tests in the last six months of 2004 found hazardous levels of nickel and cadmium, as well as high levels of cyanide, in discharges from the company’s plant into the sewer system.

Designated by the city as a “zero discharge facility,” the firm’s plant is prohibited from discharging industrial waste into the sewer system.