Toxic Times

By Stephen Oduntan

Contributing Writer

SOUTH LOS ANGELES — For decades, hazardous chemicals have remained beneath a former industrial site, roughly 100 feet from the nearest home and across the street from a neighborhood park.

Now California regulators are ordering the property cleaned up.

But for residents living around the former American Labs Inc. facility at 5701 S. Compton Ave., the action leaves an unsettling question unanswered: What, if anything, has migrated beyond the property during the years it remained contaminated?

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control issued an enforcement order last month requiring investigation and cleanup of hazardous contamination at the former American Labs property, where industrial operations ended nearly four decades ago.

American Labs operated at the property from 1976 until September 1988, handling spent mineral spirits and kerosene as well as antifreeze containing ethylene glycol.

Investigations subsequently detected volatile organic compounds in subsurface soil, including tetrachloroethylene, commonly known as PCE; trichloroethylene, or TCE; methylene chloride; toluene; ethylbenzene; xylene; and 1,1,1-trichloroethane.

Testing detected contamination at depths reaching approximately 150 feet below the surface, according to Department of Toxic Substances Control  records.

Testing conducted in 2001 found PCE at levels as high as 6,658 micrograms per liter, according to state information obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper reported that the most recent testing at the property was conducted 25 years ago.

That gap has heightened questions about what may have happened beneath the surrounding neighborhood while enforcement and ownership disputes dragged on.

Civil rights advocate Earl Ofari Hutchinson said the history reflects a larger pattern in communities where industrial facilities and homes have existed side by side.

“The decades that the toxic dumping site was there with full knowledge of local and state officials was glaring proof again that environmental racism is very much alive and well when it comes to toxic dumping in poor Black and Hispanic neighborhoods,” Hutchinson said.

The property sits in the Central-Alameda neighborhood, where industrial uses are interspersed with residential blocks. Augustus F. Hawkins Nature Park, an 8.5-acre community green space, is directly across the street.

The current property owner entered into a new corrective action consent agreement with the Department of Toxic Substances Control on June 24. Under the agreement, the owner must conduct a comprehensive investigation defining contamination in soil, soil vapor and groundwater, evaluate measures to prevent further migration and develop cleanup plans.

“California has strong hazardous waste laws to protect communities and nature,” DTSC Director Katherine Butler said when the action was announced. “This order demands the current owner examine the property and clean it up so that people living nearby and the environment are protected.”

The investigation could eventually extend beyond the industrial property.

DTSC said the facility investigation will determine the nature and extent of contamination and guide subsequent cleanup decisions. Nearby homes could be tested if investigators determine it is necessary.

For now, however, those homes have not been tested.

That distinction matters. Contamination beneath the industrial property does not establish whether residents have been exposed. Testing is needed to determine whether chemicals have migrated and whether vapor intrusion is occurring inside surrounding buildings.

Vapor intrusion expert Blayne Hartman told The Los Angeles Times that some nearby homes could potentially be at risk and that testing them is the only way to know.

Hutchinson said regulators should conduct residential testing to determine whether nearby homes have been affected.

“The state has an obligation on safety and environmental health grounds to conduct full testing of the homes affected,” he said. “The chemical contaminants still pose potential grave health dangers.”

The state’s involvement with the property dates back decades.

DTSC sought further investigation in 1996 after volatile compounds were detected in soil and soil gas, and another enforcement order followed in 2000. In February 2005, DTSC and American Labs entered into a corrective action consent agreement requiring investigation of the contamination and evaluation of potential cleanup measures.

But DTSC’s current EnviroStor history says that aside from installing probes and drafting a monitoring-well plan, “no other corrective action to actually clean the contamination has begun.”

Asked by The Wave about the lengthy history, DTSC said previous enforcement efforts had repeatedly encountered resistance.

“The site has a long enforcement history that has been challenged by previous owners and operators throughout the years,” the department said.

DTSC said it is preparing a timeline summarizing the site’s investigation and key enforcement actions.

Rhine Limited Partnership, which owns a portion of the former American Labs property, has now agreed to undertake the investigation and corrective-action process.

Rhine manager Chris Mathys told The Times the company did not fully understand the extent of the contamination when it acquired the property and described the problem as an inherited situation. He said the company is prepared to remediate the site.

For Hutchinson, the decades the contamination has remained unresolved are themselves part of the problem.

“Poor Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are often near chemical use plants and factories,” he said. “So it’s no surprise that the exposure risk to the residents would be far greater.”

Nearly four decades after American Labs stopped operating, the state is now requiring an investigation that could finally determine how far the contamination traveled.

For families living around 5701 S. Compton Ave., the cleanup order marks a beginning.

It does not yet answer the question they may care about most: whether the contamination ever reached their homes.

Stephen Oduntan is a freelance writer for Wave Newspapers.