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EPA REMOVING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS FROM ABANDONED CHEMICAL FACILITY IN EAST L.A.; $600,000 CLEANUP TO BE FINISHED MID-FEBRUARY

Release Date: 2/1/2001
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA, (415)744-2201, Cell#(415)760-5420

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is performing a $600,000 cleanup of more than 1,500 drums of toxic dry cleaning chemicals at an abandoned facility in Vernon, Calif.

     The Vernon AAD Facility at 2306 East 38th Street is a defunct treatment, storage and disposal facility for perchoroethylene, a hazardous substance used for dry cleaning.  The facility's warehouse and open lot are filled beyond capacity with an estimated 1,600 corroding drums of perc waste and 400 empty drums -- many of which are precariously double-and triple-stacked.  

     The EPA crew plans to remove all of the contaminated barrels and decontaminate the property by mid-February.

     "This site is a huge mess, and could pose a real health threat if left as is. It's imperative that we get this place cleaned up before the materials contaminate the underlying groundwater or run off into nearby storm drains," said Keith Takata, director of the EPA's Superfund division in San Francisco.  

     More than 80 percent of dry cleaners nationwide use perchloroethylene, a hazardous air pollutant and a possible human carcinogen in their cleaning processes. People  exposed  to perchloroethylene, or "perc," have been known to suffer from  headaches, dizziness and irritation of the skin, eyes and respiratory tract.  Perchloroethylene has contaminated 158 groundwater wells in Southern California in the 12 years ending in1996.

     Last year, both the city of Vernon and the California Department of Toxics Substances Control revoked the facility's respective permits to operate as a hazardous waste treatment facility.  The owner of the property issued an eviction notice to the facility Dec. 13. EPA investigators conducted several inspections of the site in November and December, and began the cleanup in January.

     Vernon AAD is one of five sites throughout the state   Bakersfield, Chino, Oakland and Paramount   where the same operator has left behind barrels of spent perc.  Vernon AAD is the largest of them all.  EPA officials are pursuing cost recovery for the cleanups funded by federal monies.