ANAHEIM : Council May Order Junkyard to Close

Operators of an automobile junkyard may be ordered by the City Council tonight to close for allegedly allowing toxic waste to seep into one of Orange County’s largest ground water basins.

George Adams Sr. and his family, accused by city and state inspectors of being among the area’s worst toxic polluters, allegedly allowed waste from an illegal 40,000-ton salvage pile at their junkyard and its related metal recycling businesses to seep into the Orange County Water District’s ground water basin. The basin supplies 65% of the central county’s drinking water.

Since perhaps 1979, the Adamses have allegedly allowed lead, mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals to seep into the ground at their 18-acre Pull Your Part facility, which borders the Riverside Freeway and the Santa Ana River.

Pull Your Part is known to motorists for its billboard, which shows a halter-top-clad woman removing parts from a car.

Among the toxic chemicals government inspectors also allegedly found in the waste above the basin were polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which the federal government banned after tests showed they cause cancer and liver damage.

State officials estimate it would cost $18 million to clean up the Adamses’ lot.

“The levels of toxic waste are so high that they make the contaminated soil a hazardous waste,” wrote retired Superior Court Judge John L. Flynn in a report to the council. Flynn was hired by the city as a mediator last spring to hear evidence in the case, and he has recommended that the businesses be closed.

Selma Mann, a deputy city attorney, said city and state hazardous waste officials have testified at various hearings that the Adamses are among the worst violators of hazardous materials laws.

“We have had testimony . . . that the city has used more resources to get the Adamses to comply with the law than any other company,” Mann said. “We have also had similar testimony from state officials.”

The Adamses did not return several calls for comment Monday.

City officials say that the Adamses have ignored repeated warnings since 1979 to separate their toxic waste from other refuse. They continue to illegally dump some of it in a Riverside County landfill and elsewhere, while keeping the rest in the 40,000-ton pile above the ground water basin in violation of state and federal law, officials say.

The waste, which officials say mixes with rain water and percolates into the ground, comes from “ground-up seats, carpeting, wood, glass, insulation, plastic (and) every conceivable thing that you could possibly think of,” according to city documents.

According to city documents, the Adamses opened their business illegally in 1976 because they failed to obtain various city permits. Since then, the Adamses have been cited for dozens of violations by various government officials.

Among the violations:

* In 1987, the Adamses were cited by the Regional Water Quality Control Board for illegally discharging waste water into the Santa Ana River. Metals found in the water were cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead and mercury.

* In 1988, a fire in the waste pile led to the evacuation of a neighboring hotel and a senior citizen center when toxic smoke was released.

The council meeting begins at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd.