City pushing for cleanup of Toxic Bolsa Chica site

Paul Clinton

City leaders are pressing a state toxics regulator to step up the

effort to clean up a hazardous industrial chemical found in a section of

the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.

Testing data has shown deposits of PCBs at levels as high as 3,200

parts per million at the 42-acre property, on unincorporated county land.

The chemical is a byproduct of the hydraulics fluid found in electric

transformers.

Councilwoman Connie Boardman said she welcomes the state agency’s

involvement.

“I’m glad to see that the state is now trying to get it cleaned up,”

Boardman said. “PCBs are not a chemical you want to have in the soil,

once you find out they’re there.”

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control had been charged

with the cleanup effort.

The agency has known the soil contains the PCBs since the summer of

1999, when test samples were first taken.

Fire Chief Mike Dolder briefed City Council members about the issue at

a Monday study session prior to the council meeting.

“No one’s sure when this happened,” Dolder said. “At this point, we

only know what’s there.”

The site, previously known as the Fieldstone property, for a prior

owner, has been fenced off since the late 1990s. Hearthside Homes is the

current owner.

Lucy Dunn, Hearthside’s executive vice president, declined to comment

on the matter.

“I’ll just refer you to the department of toxic substances,” Dunn

said.

Negotiations are set to begin on Friday between the state and

Hearthside to set a timetable and method for the cleanup. The company

would be financially liable for the work, department spokeswoman Jeanne

Garcia said.

The department will also begin another battery of tests to determine

exactly where the contamination is on the property. The majority of the

PCBs at the property show a reading of 10 parts per million, officials

said.

“These levels [of PCBs] do pose a risk to humans,” Garcia said. “What

we’re here to do is determine the actual risk.”

PCBs have been known to cause cancer, liver damage and other ailments.

Boardman and others have said they worry that the PCBs have migrated

from the site to neighboring Huntington Beach homes. But Dolder, during

public remarks, said the contaminant is a fairly heavy metal and is not

prone to drift. Councilman Peter Green, a professor of biological science

at Golden West College, said he was comfortable that the PCBs would stay

right where they are, within one foot of the topsoil.

“I don’t think it’s a great cause for alarm for the neighboring

people,” Green said. “It’s very well contained to that site.”