Decision imminent on Fieldstone Property

Jose Paul Corona

State toxic regulators said they expect a decision any day as to who

should pay for the cleanup of a contaminated portion of the Bolsa Chica

Wetlands.

Landwoner Hearthside Homes and the California Department of Toxic

Substances Control are reaching the end of talks trying to work out an

agreement regarding the decontamination of the polluted site, said Jeanne

Garcia, a spokeswoman for the state agency.

Tests performed at the site, known as the Fieldstone Property, by the

Orange County Health Care Agency in 2001 show that a 1.5-acre section of

the 42-acre parcel is contaminated with high levels of PCBs.

PCBs is a chemical used in hydraulic fluid that acts as a conductor of

heat in electrical transformers.

Readings taken from the site have registered as high as 3,200 parts

per million. Anything more than one part per million is cause for

concern, Garcia said.

The state ordered Hearthside Homes to fence off the property on Feb. 5

because it was being used as a playground by children and because others

were walking across it to reach the beach.

In addition to fencing off the site Hearthside Homes also placed

daytime security there to keep people off of the land.

Lucy Dunn, president of Hearthside Homes refused comment.

It is not known how the chemicals ended up at the property, but the

available evidence suggests that the chemicals were illegally dumped

there, said Huntington Beach City Councilman Peter Green.

Even though the site is contaminated, Garcia said it poses no

immediate danger to the community.

Councilman Green, who is also a professor of biological science at

Golden West College agreed with her.

“I do think that [the site] should be cleaned up to the highest

standards because it is in a residential area, but we shouldn’t cause

people to be alarmed,” he said.

People can no longer enter the site because it is now fenced off so

local residents can’t come into contact with the contaminated soil. The

chemicals won’t be spread to other areas, Green said.