General Dynamics Fined Over PCBs : Firm to Pay EPA $20,000, Rectify Alleged Violations at San Diego Plant

The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced that it will fine General Dynamics $20,000 for allegedly mishandling suspected carcinogens, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), at a plant it operates for the U.S. Air Force on Pacific Highway in San Diego.

The alleged violations of the federal law regulating toxic substances included transformers leaking PCB oils, inadequate record keeping, and improper storage of equipment using PCBs. General Dynamics has agreed to rectify the problems and pay the fine.

The announcement came one day after The Times reported similar accusations by the EPA against Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, another large San Diego-based defense contractor. Teledyne is already contesting state charges that it contributed to PCB pollution in San Diego Bay.

Handling of PCBs by aerospace firms and facilities near the bay has become a focus of attention because of high PCB levels found in the bay’s Convair Lagoon. In recent years, the recorded levels have been among the highest ever reported in California coastal waters.

State investigators have suggested that PCBs reached the bay through storm drains leading from at least one aerospace firm’s property. They are now beginning an investigation of storm drains leading from half a dozen firms, including General Dynamics.

On Tuesday, Terry Wilson, an EPA spokesman in San Francisco, said the EPA had signed an agreement with General Dynamics’ Convair Division under which the firm would correct the alleged violations at its U.S. Air Force plant 19 at 4297 Pacific Highway.

According to the agreement, General Dynamics has not admitted any wrongdoing, Wilson said. But the company agreed to follow the legal requirements for inspection, storage and disposal of equipment containing PCBs and to clean up the leaks.

Wilson said General Dynamics will submit its record-keeping system to the EPA for its approval.

The alleged violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act were listed in a 16-count civil administrative complaint filed by the EPA in May. They included inadequate record keeping, inadequate marking of PCBs, improper storage and 11 counts of improper disposal.

The record-keeping charge stemmed from the company’s inability to fully document the quarterly inspections required for most equipment using PCB oils, Wilson said. He said General Dynamics also allegedly failed to mark properly its PCB equipment storage and disposal area, and failed to design that area as required by law.

Finally, Wilson said EPA investigators who inspected the plant in November, 1985, found a number of leaking transformers and two floor areas contaminated with PCBs.

A spokesman for General Dynamics, Jack Isabel, confirmed Tuesday that the firm had signed the agreement and would pay the fine. He pointed out that the company operates the facility for the Air Force, which is phasing out the aging transformers on the site.

“I believe they have been changed out,” Isabel said, noting that there had not been funding available before. “If not, they are very close to having been changed out.”

Isabel said the plant, just north of Convair’s Lindbergh Field plant and near Rosecrans Street, is used primarily as a machine shop for parts fabrication. He said the military’s Atlas and Centaur launch vehicle tanks were built there.

PCBs are man-made chlorinated hydrocarbons that were used for many years as fluids in transformers and capacitors. Production was banned in 1978 in light of evidence that they cause cancer in animals and have other deleterious health effects on humans.

PCBs still exist legally in pre-1978 equipment, however.

Last July, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board blamed Teledyne Ryan at least in part for the Convair Lagoon problem. Board staff members said they had traced the PCBs to storm drains leading off Teledyne’s Harbor Drive property into the lagoon.

During their investigation, they also took samples from the storm drains leading off the sprawling General Dynamics facilities on Pacific Highway. David Barker, a senior engineer for the board, said those samples were inconclusive and that more sampling is planned.

That sampling will be part of a broader study of some six or seven industries that contribute to the storm drains in the area that run into the lagoon, Barker said.