Salvage Operator Orders Own PCBs Tests

The owner of an Anaheim steel salvage firm said Wednesday that he has ordered independent tests to verify the state’s finding of highly toxic PCBs in automobile shredder waste stockpiled at his yard.

“I just think I should test them,” said George Adams Jr., owner of Orange County Steel Salvage Inc.

Adams said an Irvine engineering firm, Kennedy/Jenks/Chilton, has been hired to test portions of the same 10 samples taken by the state. He said results are expected in about two weeks.

Meanwhile, state health officials said they are nearing a decision on the disposal of the 38,000-ton mountain of car and appliance residue because test results released last week revealed the presence of PCBs, a suspected carcinogen, at double the state limits.

Also pending is a decision on enforcement action against Adams, who has been stockpiling the shredder waste in violation of state and local laws since July, 1984, said Angelo Bellomo, chief of the Southern California regional office of the state Department of Health Services toxics unit.

Possible Penalties

Adams could face penalties of up to $25,000 daily under the state Hazardous Waste Control Act, according to James McNally of the regional office’s cleanup division in Los Angeles.

Before the finding of PCBs in all 10 samples analyzed, the stockpiled shredder waste was considered mildly hazardous because of its high lead content. Adams had been ordered to remove it, largely because of fire hazard.

Now that PCBs have turned up at levels ranging from 19 to 101 parts per million in samples taken last Jan. 24, Adams can no longer dispose of the stockpiled shredder waste at anything less than a highly regulated Class I dump for extremely hazardous waste.

Adams said last week he would “walk away” from the stockpiled waste rather than pay about $150 a ton or more to haul it to the nearest Class I dump, which is Casmalia in Santa Barbara County. He said the cost of disposal would push him into bankruptcy and force him to default on $4.5 million in state loans for the steel extraction business.

Could Cost Taxpayers

If Adams makes good his threat, McNally said, disposal of the PCBs-contaminated waste could cost California taxpayers “millions to get that pile out.”

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were widely used in electrical transformer insulation, in hydraulic systems and as a fixative for dyes and inks. They are known to cause cancer in rats and mice, and liver damage in humans. Although their manufacture was discontinued in 1976, PCBs are extremely persistent in nature.

The state’s maximum threshhold for PCBs in solid material is 50 parts per million. State officials have said that level was exceeded in seven of the 10 samples from Adams’ yard. Despite the alarming results, state and local health and water quality officials have said the contaminated mountain of waste poses no immediate threat to public health.