February 19, 2002
Contact: Victoria Clark, EDC: 805-963-1622; Drew Bohan, SBCK: 805-455-2396

COMMUNITY GROUPS CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST HALACO
Regional Water Board's Proposal Does Little to Force Clean-Up

SIMI VALLEY, CA.- At the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) meeting in Simi Valley today, local groups, community residents and elected officials called on the Board to issue a Cease and Desist Order (CDO) to Halaco Engineering, Co., a metal smelting facility in Oxnard, Ca. The CDO would allow the Board to set conditions and deadlines that Halaco would have to meet to come into compliance with the law and stop its emission of toxic chemicals.

"Halaco has knowingly continued to operate in violation of its permit, which impacts the environment and its residents," said Vicki Clark of the EDC. "The Regional Board must act now to put an end to decades of pollution in this seaside community."

The proposed CDO, however, is extremely weak and allows Halaco to continue to operate in much the same way it has for years, polluting the surrounding community without disclosing information about contamination at the site. Indeed, the findings and provisions of the CDO were crafted and agreed to by Halaco and Regional Board staff. Despite hundreds of complaints and numerous documented violations, the new CDO contains findings that do not reflect Halaco's violations of its permit or applicable laws.

"The CDO that currently awaits the Board's approval is a mockery of the enforcement process," said Drew Bohan of ChannelKeeper. "Blatant violations have occurred, and continue to occur, that warrant strong and immediate action by the Regional Board."

EDC and ChannelKeeper asked that the Regional Board issue a revised CDO with findings of actual violations by Halaco, and requirements that provide sufficient information to determine how the site should be regulated in the future.

"The Board needs to sign an Order which is enforceable and which actually forces Halaco to take the necessary steps to clean up its act," said Ms. Clark. "If the CDO is agreed to as currently written, the Board has effectively done nothing to solve the current problem."

Presently, Halaco continues to operate its industrial metal smelting facility in Oxnard under an outdated 1980 permit, emitting toxic chemicals into the air, groundwater, and surrounding Ormond Beach wetlands. These emissions have prompted the EDC and SBCK to file lawsuits in state and federal courts, as well as to pursue action at the Regional Board level.

The ongoing lawsuit charges Halaco with violating the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, laws enacted to protect public health. Since 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found Halaco in violation of the Clean Water Act for its discharge of waste into the Ormond Beach Wetlands. Two decades have passed and Halaco has still not fixed the problem. Halaco has also been emitting air pollutants in violation of the Clean Air Act since the late 1980's, prompting complaints to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District (APCD).

In addition, for the last three decades, Halaco has piped contaminated wastewater from its facility into a series of waste ponds adjacent to Ormond Beach and Ormond wetlands. These waste ponds have no liner to prevent the contaminated waste from entering the groundwater that underlies Halaco's property. Government officials recently discovered high concentrations of numerous toxic chemicals, including radioactive thorium 230, in the ground and water at Halaco's Oxnard facility.

Halaco has aggressively fought every attempt by local and state agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Air Pollution Control District, Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Coastal Commission and others, to force compliance with the law. The company has even sued individuals at these agencies and has threatened others, claiming that they are trying to put the company out of business.

Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper is a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and restore the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds through enforcement, citizen action, and education. For more information, call (805) 563-3377. The Environmental Defense Center is a non-profit, public interest environmental law firm that has provided education, advocacy, and legal services to community groups along California's Central Coast since 1977. For more information, contact EDC at (805) 963-1622.