August 26, 1996

TOXICS LAW MAY HAVE SWAYED LOCKHEED CASE

Case involving state toxics law was ‘waiting to happen’

By CHIP JACOBS

Daily News Staff Writer

The unprecedented $60 million out-of-court settlement by Lockheed Martin with about 1,300 Burbank residents over operations at the company's old aircraft manufacturing plant seemed to many to spring from nowhere.

But to those who carefully monitor California's environmental laws, it was only a matter of time before the state's trailblazing right-to-know toxic hot spots law provided ammunition for such a case.

``The Lockheed case was just waiting to happen thanks to the hot spots law,'' said Chris Mathis, an organizer for the Labor Community Strategy Center, an environmental watchdog group. ``These companies know what the data is, and they know it shows significantly high emissions of dangerous stuff. They know lots of people are being exposed.''

The Air Toxics Hot Spots Information and Assessment Act of 1987 - the first in the country - requires polluters to assess the health risks to their neighbors. Above a certain risk level, the companies are required to inform each affected neighbor with a letter and to conduct meetings to discuss the risks.

Lockheed had closed its plant, known as B-1, by the time the residents brought their claims against the company. But their attorneys had access to the health risk assessment required of Lockheed for air emissions from the plant in 1989.

Those assessments showed Lockheed's three plants, when operating, were emitting a combined total of 1,015 pound of toxins daily. Company documents showed a 10-in-1 million cancer risk to more than 44,000 residents as recently as 1991.

In particular, the assessment disclosed that the B-1 plant was emitting at least 2.28 pounds of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, into the air in 1989. The health assessment concluded the compound was primarily responsible for the risk, estimated at 180 additional cancers per 1 million people among residents receiving a maximum exposure over a lifetime.

The private judge who mediated the settlement, John Trotter, said the toxics law was pivotal to the residents' claims, which he said hinged largely on the hexavalent chromium emissions chronicled in the health risk assessment, as well as other data submitted to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

``Had these filing requirements not existed, the plaintiffs would not have had access to this information,'' Trotter said during a Friday news conference in Orange. ``They were vital to the plaintiff's case in showing what Lockheed had done.''

Trotter said there may be implications for other companies that emitted hexavalent chromium in the past as well.

``Anyone who has used it in the past is sitting with their fingers crossed,'' he said.

Lockheed officials and the attorney for the residents, David Casselman of Tarzana, declined to discuss the role the toxic hot spots disclosures played in the settlement.

The settlement has renewed debate about the toxic hot spots law, which environmental groups hail as a milestone in public disclosure. But many businesses say it is overly harsh in requiring expensive inventory reports for minimal risks.

At the heart of the debate is the lag in reporting among companies.

Seven years after the AQMD enacted local standards for the hot spots rules, only seven of the region's 325 biggest polluters have held the neighborhood meetings, according to state records. AQMD officials had predicted up to 100 would hold the meetings this year.

Not a single company has been required to develop an emission reduction plan as envisioned under the hot spots law.

In 1994, a total of 1.3 million people in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties had been exposed to cancer risks above the level requiring public notification, according to air district officials.

The seven companies that held meetings were responsible for exposing an estimated 37,000 workers and residents to elevated risks, generating a combined 96,507 pounds of toxic air emissions in 1989, records show.

Assembly Minority Leader Richard Katz, D-Panorama City, said he believes the AQMD held back on aggressively implementing the hot spots rule, noting the state political pressure to scale back the requirements.

``The AQMD has been backsliding for years,'' Katz said.

The Senate next week will vote on AB 564 by Assemblyman Sal Cannella, D-Turlock. The measure would exempt all but the state's biggest toxic emitters from the fees and regulatory oversight they now face.

Cannella said in an interview the hot spots law exceeded its original scope by including small companies that emitted minute amounts of toxins.

``The (hot spots bill) was needed to identify toxics and get a handle on what was going on,'' Cannella said. ``But once the state and air districts knew who the large polluters were, they made no attempt to reform it. It got out of hand.''

Environmental groups, however, are worried the bill will set back public disclosure of toxic emissions.

Bonnie Holmes, the Sierra Club California's legislative director, said, ``It should be about improving the information. Instead they are cutting off information that neighborhoods need and far beyond what we believe is reasonable.''

AQMD officials say they've been slowed down by the complexity of the reporting requirements, but say the law has done what it was intended to do in many instances - to dramatically reduce toxic emissions.

``Toxics have been cut in this area more than anywhere in the world, period,'' said Benjamin Shaw, the AQMD's senior manager for toxics.

``The beating we've taken is because the program is much bigger than we realized, and it's taken too long.''

A log of 15 key toxins spewed by Southland companies show emissions dropped 41 percent - from 43.9 million pounds to 26.4 million pounds - between 1990 and 1993, the last year the information was available, according to district records.

Lockheed would have been required to hold community hearings, but the company decided to dismantle its 103-acre aircraft-manufacturing plant six years ago, Shaw said.

Residents learned about hot spot emissions after they were notified by the air quality district two years ago of a plan to clean up toxic vapors in the soil at the site. The notification was required because the plan to emit 40 pounds of trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene daily into the air carried an increased cancer risk estimated at a maximum of 3.03 people per million for a lifetime of exposure. The emissions have since been reduced to 9.8 pounds per day.

The cleanup is part of a federal Superfund site in the east San Fernando Valley. Lockheed is expected to pay the bulk of the $300 million groundwater cleanup. Officials have identified dozens of smaller responsible parties.

AQMD officials said attorneys for the residents obtained copies of the health risk assessment required under the toxics law.

Bob Wyman, a Los Angeles attorney who has represented large defense companies, refiners and others before the air district, said there have been few hearings, because corporations voluntarily slashed their toxic use in response to federal Superfund clean-up rules.

``They've implemented pretty aggressive phase-out programs,'' Wyman said. ``They know if they use highly toxic chemicals they'll be regulated. It's embarrassing to report that you are on the top of the (toxic) list.''

Terry McGuire, technical support chief for the California Resources Board, which has the overall responsibility for setting emission standards, said that while the law has shown total toxic inventories lower than originally thought, he's surprised the South Coast Basin, which accounts for roughly half of all the toxics emitted in the state, hasn't triggered more public meetings.

``Seven is a small number,'' McGuire said. ``Other air districts have held more.'' McGuire said he didn't have a count of Northern California public hearings.

Based on an initial list of 1,200 major polluters, AQMD officials required 325 submit inventory and health risk assessments. So far, only 40 have been approved, with 150 in the final stages of review. Hundreds of smaller facilities, most of them dry cleaners, are also being studied.

When the health risks assessments conclude the cancer risk would cause more than 10 cancers among 1 million exposed residents, it triggers the meeting notification. When the risk exceeds 100 cancers among 1 million people exposed, the facility must develop a strategy to reduce the risk.

Some of the executives who have held the meetings complain they were unfairly forced to do so under the toxics law, saying in some cases they already had changed their operations to be below the reporting threshold and were still forced to hold community meetings.

That was the case for Prudential Overall Supply, which stopped using the toxic solvent PCE at its industrial dry cleaning operations in Commerce and Irvine by the time of the meetings.

``In our view, instead of being used as a human health tool, they're using it to help those who might want to pursue toxic tort claims,'' said Lee Terry, the company's environmental manager.

Continental Airlines' aircraft maintenance hub near Los Angeles International Airport posed the highest cancer risk - 764 in 1 million additional cancers at maximum exposure over a lifetime - of the seven companies that have so far held the meetings, records show.

Company officials refused to talk about the meeting.

BP Chemicals, a Gardena aircraft and aerospace-components manufacturer, and McWhorter Technologies, a Lynwood casting and resin maker, also provided notice to residents and staged meetings. Officials did not return phone calls.

Los Angeles-based Modern Plating, a metal plating company that serves the aerospace and automobile industries, also was required to put on a community forum. Company President Chuck Manzetti said his firm was being assessed based on emission information that was obsolete.

``I grew up on the East Coast, where companies would dump millions of dollars of chlorinated solvents in Lake Erie and it would wipe out the wildlife,'' he said. ``The planet can't withstand that, but what I'm concerned about is how a small company like Modern Plating can be classified at the same level as large companies. There is a dichotomy that doesn't make sense.''

Shaw said it was unfair to judge the hot spots law based on the hearings so far. Another 75 companies may have to hold them once officials review their health assessments, he said.

The only Valley candidates are in Van Nuys: the Anheuser-Busch brewery, Prudential Overall Supply and radar maker ITT Gilfillan.

Officials at those companies said they don't believe they'll have to stage hearings because of their programs to reduce emissions.

Officials at Rockwell International Corp.'s Rocketdyne division in Canoga Park say they've moved away from toxin use since the law went on the books - so much so they don't believe they'll have to stage a community hearing. Two years ago, they were listed just below the reporting limit, at 9 additional cancers per million for a lifetime of maximum exposure.

The company, for instance, nearly eliminated its hexavalent chromium emissions by adding better filters at paint booths and using low-evaporative oils on NASA projects.

``We've made substantial progress,'' said Kim O'Rourke, a Rocketdyne environmental engineer. The law ``definitely made us rethink our priorities.''

copyright Daily News of Los Angeles

Money Train, published in Los Angeles City Beat. Why would U.S. Congressman Ernest Istook from Oklahoma come to Los Angeles to raise money? Perhaps because he holds the purse strings to critical federal transportation dollars.
March 10, 2005

MOVING DOWN THE ROAD, Pasadena Weekly
http://chipjacobs.com/a_movingdown.html
Moving Down the Road, published in the Pasadena Weekly. The Caltrans 700,000 square-foot tower owes its existence to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, union muscle, and a tincture of politics.
July 10, 2003

TUNNEL VISIONS, Pasadena Weekly, Caltrans Tenants Association
http://www.caltranstenants.com/tunnel.html
Tunnel Visions, published in Pasadena Weekly. Caltrans may dig deep to find a way out of its 710 Freeway debacle.
(Part III of Corridor of Shame series)
May 22, 2003

THE UNTOUCHABLES, Pasadena Weekly, Caltrans Tenants Association
http://www.caltranstenants.com/slumlord.html
The Untouchables, published in Pasadena Weekly. Slumlord Caltrans uses legal immunity to hold tenants and the cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena, and South Pasadena at bay, as long-needed repairs to homes the agency owns along the proposed 710 Freeway route fester. (Part II of Corridor of Shame series)
May 15, 2003

NO EXIT, Pasadena Weekly
http://chipjacobs.com/a_noexit.html
No Exit, published in Pasadena Weekly. Once stately properties that Caltrans bought 30 years ago to complete the still unfinished Long Beach 710 Freeway stand as a testament of neglect by one of the most powerful agencies in California. (Part I of Corridor of Shame series)
May 8, 2003

SOME MTA DRIVERS GET PHYSICAL, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/a_mtadriversphys.html
Some MTA Drivers Get Physical, published in Daily News Los Angeles. Attacks on Metropolitan Transportation Agency riders not always punished and nearly 20 cases remain unsolved or lost due to poor record keeping.
June 24, 1996

SUBWAY TUNNEL WALLS AT RISK, REPORT WARNS, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/subwaytunnelwallsatrsk1.pdf
Subway Tunnel Walls at Risk, Report Warns, published in Daily News Los Angeles. Just three years after the first segment of the Metro Red Line was opened at a cost of $1.45 billion, the Army Corps of Engineers says the subway’s concrete walls are at risk of being eaten away by chemical-laced ground water.  MTA officials say water-damage threat small. 
April 11, 1996

MTA SPENT BIG TO SUGARCOAT TUNNELING, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/mtaspentbig1.pdf
MTA Spent Big to Sugarcoat Tunneling, published in Daily News Los Angeles. During the 1994 holiday season, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency spent about $400,000 in public funds to bring a Yule-tide bonanza to Hollywood boulevard. Opponents say humbug to mitigation efforts, labeling it as pork barrel or misguided.
September 24, 1995

HOMES OWNED BY CALTRANS NOT KEPT UP, RECORDS SHOW, The Los Angeles Times
http://chipjacobs.com/a_homesowned.html
Homes Owned by CalTrans Not Kept Up, Records Show, published in The Los Angeles Times. Dozens of homes the state acquired along the un-built Long Beach (710) Freeway pathway sit in such disrepair they either can’t be leased or whip up renters’ complaints about slumlord practices. Twenty-seven homes still part of the holdings are not even needed to construct the long-delayed project. Caltrans defends maintenance.
April 26, 1995

CALTRANS MISSED SAFETY DEADLINE, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/caltransmissed1.pdf
CalTrans Missed Safety Deadline, published in  the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Despite a legally etched state deadline, Caltrans missed a key deadline to strengthen more than 1000 freeway bridges, including most of the structures crippled in the Northridge earthquake. Bridge contracts overdue.
February 4, 1994

PROBLEMS PILE UP ALONG METRO LINE, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/problemspileupmetro1.pdf
Problems Pile up Along Metro Line, published in San Gabriel Valley Tribune. First came the charges of shoddy construction. Then the claims of massive cost overruns.  Now more troubles are brewing for Los Angeles’ new subway:  wage violations against workers actually building the Metro Red Line.
October 16, 1993

FREEWAY WORK: A PERILOUS PAYCHECK, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/freewayworkperilouspaycheck1.pdf
Freeway Work: A Perilous Paycheck, published in San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Caltrans workers face death everyday and Caltrans needs to further protect its exposed maintenance crew.
Sept. 4, 1993

TRANSIT COMMISSION AUDITORS CAST EAGLE EYE ON TUTOR’S COSTS, Los Angeles Business Journal
http://chipjacobs.com/a_transit.html
Transit commission Auditors Cast Eagle Eye on Tutor’s Costs, published in Los Angeles Business Journal. Los Angeles County Transportation Commission auditors are questioning tens of thousands of dollars in overhead expenses that powerhouse Metro Rail contractor Tutor-Saliba Corp. submitted two years ago, according to a preliminary audit obtained by the Business Journal.
September 28, 1992

METRO RAIL COST-OVERRUN TAB ADDS TO CITY HALL FISCAL WOES, Los Angeles Business Journal
http://chipjacobs.com/a_metrorail.htm
Metro Rail Cost-Overrun Tab adds to the City Hall Fiscal Woes, published in Los Angeles Business Journal. The City of Los Angeles is on the hook to pay $100 million in Metro Rail Red Line construction overruns under a little-known cost-sharing deal with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.
March 16, 1992

Title: The man
URL: http://www.chipjacobs.com/wd_theman.html

Almost broke, living on handouts with his mom in a shabby apartment outside post-war Los Angeles, Gordon Zahler, a paralyzed kid in his mid-twenties got an idea. He'd re-sell the music of a dead man -- the music his father, Lee Zahler, composed during his workhorse career in early Hollywood. Within a few years, mother and son would be working for MGM on a Doris-Day romp and for Hollywood's most beloved hack, Ed Wood Jr., on Plan Nine from Outer Space. A decade later they had a house above the Sunset Strip in a comeback story too farfetched for any screenplay.