Company’s harmful emissions lower, but not enough, AQMD officials tell neighbors

Emissions levels surrounding a Newport Beach business have decreased in the past couple of years, but not enough, air quality officials say.

Officials updated residents about emissions that have been released into the air by Hixson Metal Finishing, and the toxic risks associated with them, at a community meeting held by the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Thursday night in the Hoag Hospital conference center in Newport Beach.

Hixson, at 829 Production Place, has been monitored by the AQMD for years, and air quality officials who tested the air from 2011 through 2013 found what the agency considers unacceptable levels of hexavalent chromium, a material used in the metal plating process.

The substance, also known as chromium-6, is believed to cause lung, nasal and sinus cancer if inhaled in high concentrations, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hixson’s plant is next to an apartment building in a neighborhood that contains a mix of homes and businesses near the Costa Mesa border. Since 2009, the AQMD has conducted more than 300 inspections at the site and since 2014 has issued seven notices of violation.

Air quality officials last year ordered Hixson to reduce the levels on an expedited schedule, and in May the AQMD told Hixson to attend a meeting to explain the risks of chromium-6 to nearby residents.

Hixson officials told those in attendance Thursday that they are working to solve the problems and will continue to do so.

“This is not just where we do business,” said Douglas Greene, the company’s president. “We call this home.”

Greene said chromium-6 is essential to Hixson’s work because “it works.”

“It’s used to basically stop corrosion,” Greene said. “You would never have an aircraft, commercial or military, without chromium. You would not have all sorts of things on this planet without chromium.”

The AQMD has worked with the business to install filtration systems, seal spray booths and implement other emission-control systems.

Though chromium levels are lower now than they were a year ago, the company still must reduce them, air quality officials say.

Greene said the company has spent more than $4 million on upgrades and plans to spend more to complete the work.

“We’ve done everything from change exhaust stacks to putting enclosures around our roofs. We’ve replaced ovens, we’ve upgraded our filtration systems,” Greene said.

“Our [emission] numbers have dropped 91% from 2013 to May 2015,” Greene said. “Is that good enough? No. We know it’s not good enough … the agency knows it’s not good enough. So we have a future plan.”

Residents of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa told officials they aren’t happy.

“It’s a really bad situation,” said Lori Textor, a Newport Beach resident whose son lives in the nearby apartments. “Somebody is going to die from this; it can’t just go on.”

One resident asked about the timeline for changes at the facility.

“Some of those things will take time,” said Nancy Feldman, principal deputy district counsel for the AQMD. “It won’t be overnight.”

She added that under current rules, businesses have a maximum of three years to complete risk reduction measures, but the AQMD will not allow that.

“It will be much quicker than that,” Feldman said.

She did not give the resident an exact timeline. “I’m not in a position to say,” Feldman said.

AQMD officials told residents they plan to hold another community meeting in six months.