Local : Hazardous Substance Cleanup at Canyon Country Site Slated

California health authorities announced today that they will begin a cleanup of hazardous substances at a bankrupt oil refinery in Canyon Country.

The state Department of Health Services has initially earmarked up to $1 million on the cleanup of the five-acre Lubrication Co. of America site on Lang Station Road east of the Antelope Valley Freeway, said Richard Varenchik, a spokesman for the agency.

The agency’s toxic substances control program will also pay for a series of soil studies to determine if any ground contamination occurred from spillage of oils and fuels that were refined at the plant between 1960 and 1987, Varenchik said.

A report from the state agency concludes that surface runoff of spills from the plant was carried in a drainage ditch to the bed of the nearby Santa Clarita River. Preliminary tests of water from two wells in the area were inconclusive as to whether there was contamination from LCA, Varenchik said.

Money for the cleanup came from a 1984 bond that raised funds for a statewide cleanup of hazardous substances. Under an agreement with Grant Ivey, the owner of LCA, the property will sold and the state will be reimbursed cleanup costs of up to $1.4 million, Varenchik said.