‘My Kids Are Always Sick’ : Casmalia Residents Want Dump Closed

SACRAMENTO — More than 65 residents of Casmalia--a third of the town’s population--staged a rally on the steps of the state Capitol on Monday to call for closure of a toxic waste dump that they say is poisoning their community.

Led by Casmalia Elementary School Principal Kenneth McCalip, the group set up a mock classroom outside the Capitol, where children and their parents told reporters the dump is responsible for deaths and illness in their town.

At any one time, McCalip said, between 50% and and 90% of the students at the two-room Casmalia Elementary School suffer from respiratory illnesses. The school and town are 1 1/2 miles from the toxic waste dump near Vandenberg Air Force Base.

“My kids are always sick,” pleaded an emotional Ramona Ramirez. “Please help us and close it down.”

Despite repeated appeals by residents to shut down the Casmalia dump, the state has allowed the facility to continue operating.

Some chemicals from the 58 waste ponds at the site have leaked into the soil.

State officials say they have been unable to substantiate claims of health problems caused by the dump, in part, they say, because residents have been unwilling to permit inspection of medical records to support the claim.

Last December, the Central Coast Regional Water Control Board granted the dump’s operators, Casmalia Resources Co., an exemption from the state’s toxic waste cleanup law and gave them up to five years to clean up 120 million gallons of toxic liquids.

Although Casmalia is now prohibited from receiving hazardous liquid wastes, it is one of only two dumps in the state allowed to accept hazardous solid waste.

‘Refuse to Be Sacrificed’

Not satisfied with the state’s handling of the dump, residents of the town came to Sacramento to call on the Deukmejian Administration to close the dump, set up an evacuation plan for local residents, make sure no liquid leaves the site and post warning signs on all sides of the facility.

“We refuse to be sacrificed so that industry has a convenient place to dump its poisons,” said Jerry Corlew, one of the town residents.

After staging their rally on the Capitol steps, the group went to the governor’s office, where they delivered drawings done by the children and a large photograph of a deformed baby born in Casmalia.

Unable to see Gov. George Deukmejian personally, the protesters, including Greenpeace members and other anti-toxics activists, then marched through the Capitol chanting, “Hey, governor, don’t you know, toxic waste has got to go.”

Later in the day, three leaders of the protest met with state Health Services Director Kenneth W. Kizer to discuss their demand that the dump be closed.

After the meeting, Kizer noted that the state has extensively investigated the Casmalia group’s allegations that health problems have been caused by the dump. However, the state’s medical experts have been been unable to find sufficient evidence to support their charges.

Medical Records

In part, he said, the state has been hampered by the unwillingness of some residents and physicians to release medical records to state investigators that would help prove their claim.

“To date, we have not been satisfied with the degree of cooperation by some of the medical community and some of the families that have made allegations,” Kizer said. “What we tried to do today is try to stress the importance that, if were going to factually evaluate this, we have to have the information.”