NESI’s future looks clean

Eron Ben-Yehuda

Efforts to clean up a little-known toxic waste dump began in earnest this

year.

Known as the NESI site, the 38-acre property on the corner of Hamilton

Avenue and Magnolia Street began operating as a landfill in 1938. Through

the years, the site was used as a dumping ground for drilling mud, crude

oil and other industrial wastes. By 1984, NESI had made the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund List -- an inventory of toxic

waste sites targeted for cleanup.

But the property kept changing hands without much progress being made

until the current owner, Signal Mortgage Co. of Long Beach, took over in

1993.

Signal appears serious about “stabilizing” the land by taking out harmful

chemicals. The company’s goal is to prepare the site for residential

development.

Neighbors of NESI worry that, in the process of cleaning up, toxic

emissions will be released into the air.

“We don’t want to replace the present situation with one that would

impact the neighborhood even worse,” resident Rich Loy has said.

But during trial runs of the proposed cleanup conducted in October, tests

showed toxic emissions fell far below harmful levels.

A final report evaluating the possibilities for cleanup is expected to be

completed by March. Full-scale cleanup should begin by the end of 2001.