Cleanup agreement signed

Paul Clinton

State toxics regulators have reached a historic agreement with a

consortium of oil and chemical companies to mount an aggressive clean

up of the Ascon toxic waste dump, which the companies sullied for

almost five decades.

Cleanup could begin as early as late this year and would take

three years to complete, a state toxics spokeswoman said.

Gov. Gray Davis announced late last week the agreement between the

companies and the state’s Department of Toxics Substances Control.

“This agreement is a significant achievement that brings together,

for the first time, a group of companies with the financial resources

to investigate and clean the Ascon property,” Davis said. “With the

state’s leadership, this agreement ensures the protection of public

health and will enable the revitalization of a magnificent coastal

property.”

A string of ambitious developers hoping to build condominiums or

other beachfront housing on the 38-acre prime property in

Southeastern Huntington Beach went belly up when faced with the cost

of the cleanup, which could cost $100 million.

City leaders long frustrated by the failed attempts to eradicate

the oily lagoons, noxious styrene, drilling mud and other waste from

the property welcomed the deal.

“I think the Ascon agreement is wonderful,” Mayor Connie Boardman

said. “I’m really glad the state stepped in to work with the

responsible parties. I think it’s going to happen now.”

In all, eight corporations signed on to the cleanup agreement,

which spells out how the companies will clean the site. They have not

acknowledged any wrongdoing.

“Our goal is to take that site that has been sitting unused for

decades and put it back to a productive use,” said Thomas Cota, a

branch chief with the state toxics department. “[During the cleanup],

one of our significant priorities is the protection of human health.

We will make sure that with any cleanup, there will not be an impact

to human health.”

The companies agreeing to the deal are Atlantic Richfield Co.,

Chevron Texaco Corp., Conoco Inc., Dow Chemical Co., Phillips

Petroleum Co., Shell Transport & Trading, Southern California Edison

and Northrup Grumman Space & Mission System Corp., formally known as

TRW Inc.

Exxon Mobile Corp. refused to sign the deal, Cota said. Exxon and

several other potentially responsible parties could still face

penalties for not participating in the work.

From 1938 to 1984, the Ascon site was a functioning landfill.

Between the time it opened and 1971, Ascon was used primarily as a

dump for the drilling mud, fuel oil, chromic acid, sulfuric acid,

aluminum slag and styrene (a form of plastic). After that time, solid

materials -- such as asphalt, concrete, soil and wood -- were dumped.

Many of these toxic chemicals appear on the state’s Proposition 65

watch list of substances that cause cancer.

Environmental reports completed by a number of consultants and

agencies also show ground-water contamination from the site. Benzene,

petroleum hydrocarbons and crude oil have been found in the wells.

Other efforts to develop the land, which the City Council approved

for 502 homes in 1992, have met with abject failure.

Councilman Dave Sullivan, who sat on the council from 1994 to 2000

and was reelected in November, said he hopes oil industry funds will

kick-start work.

“It’s been an issue ever since I’ve been involved in it,” Sullivan

said. “I think [the deal] is fantastic.”

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He

covers City Hall. He may be reached at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail at

[email protected].