EPA Fines Lockheed for Water Cleanup Violations

Lockheed Martin Corp. was fined $1.38 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for improperly operating its water cleanup system in Burbank, officials announced Thursday.

Under the terms of a 1992 federal consent decree, Lockheed’s Burbank unit was ordered to pump 9,000 gallons per minute from the local aquifer to help purge water supplies of toxic solvents.

But the EPA said Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Md., did not comply with the agreement because it failed to operate the plant at full capacity between June 2000 and July 2001.

“Lockheed took the position that the extraction problems at the plant were due to lack of water in the aquifer,” said EPA attorney Marie Rongone. “After extensive reviews, we determined that they were due to plant maintenance and design choice issues that we believe contributed to the problem.”

Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Gail Rymer said company officials did not believe the fine was warranted, adding that the aeronautics firm was attempting to resolve any production issues at the Burbank plant.

“This dispute has nothing to do with public health,” Rymer said. “We’ve been in good-faith negotiations with the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice for many months.”

Lockheed’s former Burbank production complex has been identified by state and federal environmental officials as a major source of solvents that have polluted ground water in Burbank and forced the city to shut municipal water wells.

The area was designated for cleanup in 1986 under the federal Superfund program, which requires those responsible for pollution to pay for the removal of toxic materials.

Environmental officials say ground water in the Burbank area is contaminated with TCE and PCE, two types of toxic solvents from past aerospace manufacturing operations.

“The less [water] you pump, the longer it takes to clean up,” Rongone said. “And that’s going to take long enough as it is.”