WEST COVINA : BKK Might Become Superfund Site

BKK landfill in West Covina might become a Superfund site, the company says, if it is forced to close its operation in 1995.

That contention is the latest tangle in an ongoing dispute between BKK and the city over the landfill’s fate. While the city has filed suit demanding that BKK cease operations in 1995, the company says it will continue to accept trash until its permit expires in 2006.

In the meantime, it is uncertain how the company will fund cleanup of its hazardous waste site, which closed in 1984, and the household dump it still operates.

If the dump shuts down next year, BKK President Ken Kazarian warned, the company will be unable to pay for maintenance of the site, leaving local cities and companies to foot the Superfund bill.

Kazarian said the company purchased an insurance policy this year that will cover those costs. But, he said, the policy will be canceled if BKK fails to pay $10-million annual premiums until 1999.

But state and city officials say BKK has known about its responsibility since 1978 and should have set aside the money during the past decade.

“We’re not going to let them wait till the last minute,” said West Covina Mayor Bradley McFadden. “They had 10 years to save up the money, and they didn’t. To me, the environmental impact of them staying open till 1999 outweighs the financial benefits.”

State and federal laws require the company to pay to maintain the site for 30 years after it closes. But to date, the company has paid only $1 million of the estimated $50 million it will take to monitor air emissions, treat ground water and maintain the clay cover on the site, said Scott Simpson, an enforcement chief with the state Department of Toxic Substance Control.

In 1981, the company opened a trust fund for post-closure maintenance that was supposed to reach $50 million. Over the next three years, it paid in $900,000, a quarter of the $3.6 million it was supposed to pay during that period, Simpson said.

When the company closed its hazardous waste facility in 1984, Kazarian said, regulations required it to pay the entire $50 million up front. Instead, the company, saying it didn’t have that much money, stopped all payments into the fund, Kazarian said.

“It’s like being in the fifth or sixth year of a 30-year mortgage and having the bank say you have to pay off your mortgage now,” Kazarian complained.

In 1990, the Department of Toxic Substance Control cited the company for failing to provide those funds, Simpson said. Although the company was never fined, the case is still open and BKK may face penalties ranging from $1 to $25,000 per day for each regulatory violation.

Kazarian insists, however, that BKK is not remiss, and will be able to fund maintenance of the site if it can continue operating until 2006. The agreement to close the landfill earlier, he said, hinged on developing a business and industrial park on the site that would offer another source of revenues.

“We never said it was possible to meet our financial obligations in 1995 absent a new source of revenues,” he said. “Never, ever.”