4 Places Cited in Crackdown on Toxic Waste

Four San Diego County entities--two Navy sites and two private firms--have been cited for alleged toxics violations as part of a wide-ranging joint U.S.-Mexico crackdown on hazardous waste, environmental authorities said Wednesday.

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control issued cleanup orders to aerospace manufacturer Rohr Inc., to a now-defunct family-owned National City oil recycling firm and to the Navy, officials said Wednesday.

“Even though these facilities are not all directly engaged in border activities, their actions contribute to the region’s environmental programs,” California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary James M. Strock said in a statement announcing the orders.

U.S. EPA officials Wednesday announced two criminal indictments, both filed in San Diego federal court, and 10 civil enforcement actions brought against firms nationwide. In the criminal cases, which are unrelated, San Diego prosecutors allege that an El Monte firm and a Calexico man tried to drive hazardous wastes across the border into Mexico.

Mexican officials, meanwhile, said Wednesday they had ordered the closure of eight maquiladora plants in four states because of alleged environmental hazards.

An inspection last week of 42 maquiladoras , foreign-owned plants that assemble goods in Mexico to take advantage of low-cost labor, led to the order to shut the eight plants in the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, said officials of the Secretariat of Social Development, the newly renamed Mexican environmental agency.

None of the many maquiladoras in Tijuana or in Baja California was close.

In California, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, a branch of the state EPA, oversees facilities that treat, store and dispose of hazardous waste. Its orders require the four San Diego-area facilities to correct the violations and clean up any contamination.

Each of the four facilities has the legal right to challenge the clean-up order and appeal to an administrative law judge.

Rohr, which makes jet engine parts, was cited for five violations at the firm’s 5,400-employee plant on H Street in Chula Vista, including unpermitted treatment and storage of hazardous waste and failure to minimize the chance of a toxics leak. The facility faces a proposed $151,791 penalty, officials said.

“We’re aware of it, we’re investigating it, and we intend to defend ourselves against the alleged violations,” Rohr spokesman Mark Bergherr said Wednesday.

Nelco Oil Refining Corp., a family-owned firm that ceased operations 18 months ago, was cited for eight violations at its oil recycling facility in National City, including a failure to notify the state agency of toxic waste shipments to and from Mexico, officials said. Though it went out of business, it still faces a proposed $117,000 penalty.

“We feel it’s important we order them to take this cleanup action,” agency spokesman Allan Hirsch said. “Now the ball is in their court to take care of the problems they left behind.”

The Navy Public Works Center was cited for 15 violations, nine for its groundwater monitoring program at North Island Naval Air Station and six at its 32nd Street Naval Station base, Hirsch said.

The state alleges that groundwater at North Island is contaminated by solvents and metals, Hirsch said. It also alleges that sludge hazardous waste was left in an uncontained concrete slab at the 32nd Street station when it should have been put in a drum or other container, Hirsch said.

The Navy is not facing fines because the federal government is immune from fines leveled by state agencies.

In one of the criminal cases in San Diego federal court, an El Monte shoe maker and three of its employees were indicted on three felony counts, authorities said.

Sbicca of California employees tried to drive spent solvents across the Tijuana border crossing and unsuccessfully tried to give a Mexican customs official $200 to let their truck pass, authorities said.

In the other criminal case, prosecutors filed six felony counts against Ignacio Lopez, owner of Mexam Parking and Warehouse of Calexico.

The indictment includes three counts of illegally transporting hazardous wastes and three more of illegally exporting toxics into Mexico between last Sept. 18 and Jan. 27. Officials allege that Lopez tried to ship a number of different types of hazardous wastes across the border.