Foundry to Reopen Monday, Hopes Lead Emmission Is Fixed

Engineers on Monday plan to start up a Torrance foundry that was closed last week after regulators discovered that air around the facility contained extremely high levels of toxic lead.

An attorney representing Martin Brass Foundry said Friday that the start-up will determine whether repairs completed during the weekend have solved the air-quality problems.

“If we need six hours more or a day more (for repairs), then we’ll do whatever it takes,� said the attorney, Charles Ivie. “But the plan is that it will be business as usual on Monday.�

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Department of Health is expected this week to receive the results of soil tests taken last week on land near the foundry property. The county agency took the samples after the AQMD reported its discovery of high levels of airborne lead.

If serious soil contamination is detected, the county agency will attempt to measure whether the toxins have impaired the health of children and adults who frequent the area, said Bill Jones of the department’s hazardous waste division.

The foundry, at 2341 Jefferson St., near Charles Wilson Community Park, halted its operations on Tuesday at the request of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The agency said air samples collected near the facility in April and May contained lead particles in concentrations up to 20 times higher than federal law allows. Breathing air contaminated with high concentrations of lead can cause brain damage and has been linked to high blood pressure in adults.

The air samples, analyzed during the summer, also contained above-average levels of zinc, but airborne zinc is considered far less dangerous than lead and is not subject to a federal standard, health officials said.

This weekend, Ivie said, engineers are expected to finish repairing ducts that form part of a pollution control system at the 65-employee foundry, which makes valves, fittings and other castings for the construction industry.

As the plant gets back in gear, however, regulators will be testing nearby to assess whether airborne lead levels exceed the federal standard of 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

On Thursday, the AQMD obtained an injunction in Los Angeles Superior Court requiring the foundry to keep its lead emissions below the federal standard. The agency failed to obtain a more restrictive order that would have kept the foundry closed until the AQMD deemed it safe to reopen.

“The bottom line is: Are they going to meet that standard?� said Edwin Pupka, senior enforcement manager for the AQMD’s air toxics branch. If the foundry does not, AQMD officials say they will go back to Los Angeles Superior Court for an order forcing the facility to cease operations. County health officials say they have notified California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health about the high lead concentrations found in air outside the foundry.

In response, Cal/OSHA last week launched an investigation to determine whether workers had been subjected to excessive risks. Cal/OSHA spokesman Rich Rice declined Friday to comment on his agency’s findings so far, and he said it is uncertain when the study will be completed.

“Ordinarily it takes about two weeks, but sometimes you have to extend that if there is additional testing to be done,� Rice said.