County on Horns of an Abandoned Car Dilemma in Scrap Yard

San Diego County officials have threatened legal action against a National City scrap yard where a fire forced the evacuation of 1,900 people last week unless the owner finds a way to dispose of 25,000 tons of potentially toxic waste that is illegally stored at the plant.

Larry Akers, assistant deputy director of environmental health services for the county, said Thursday that health officials plan to meet with the district attorney’s office to discuss legal answers to the environmental problems caused by a mountain of “fluff” stored at Pacific Steel Inc. Fluff is hazardous non-ferrous waste, mostly plastic and vinyl, that is removed from cars before they are shredded.

But Akers added that he hopes to reach an agreement on disposal of the fluff because there is no other site in the county that disposes of abandoned vehicles.

A fire that burned for almost 20 hours at Pacific Steel last week forced the evacuation of three schools, residences and businesses around the auto wrecking yard at 1700 Cleveland Ave. The fire began in a massive pile of scrap metal and was contained by National City firefighters before it reached the nearby fluff pile which, had it caught fire, would have unleashed toxic fumes.

Meanwhile, a state water official said that Pacific Steel has been ordered to prevent water runoff from the fluff pile from going into a storm drain that empties into San Diego Bay. David Barker, senior engineer at the Regional Water Quality Control Board, said the amount of runoff was relatively small, but tests revealed that it was carrying particles of heavy metal into the bay.

Company on Notice

“The company has been put on notice that they cannot discharge that water into the bay,” Barker said. “The water contains heavy metal particles not suitable for the bay. Their discharge in the past was in violation of state water pollution laws and we issued notice earlier this month that this must stop.”

Pacific Steel was required two years ago by National City Fire Department officials to install a sprinkler system over the fluff pile to keep it wet to prevent fires. National City Fire Marshall Patti Schiff said that, until the sprinkler system was installed, local firefighters went to the plant about once a month in response to a fluff fire.

Eduardo Gurria, president of Pacific Steel, and other company officials could not be reached for comment.

Despite the tough action contemplated by health officials, a decision to sue Pacific Steel might present a major problem for the county and its cities. The plant is the only metal recycling business of its kind in the county and, if it were closed, officials fear, local streets would be littered with thousands of abandoned cars.

“The last thing we want to do is force this company out of business, but we also want to provide a safe environment. . . . There’s been a determination by our side to work with the district attorney in the preparation of a case. However, we’re hoping that we can reach an agreement with the company on the disposal of the fluff,” Akers said.

In preparing a case against the owners of the scrap yard, county officials will try “to figure out how to make our way through the regulatory maze we have created, as well as dealing with the practical need to get rid of these old cars,” he added.

No Storage License

The mountain of fluff itself does not present a public health threat, said Akers. The problem arises from the illegal storage of the materials. Pacific Steel does not have a state license to store fluff.

The hazardous materials, which include small amounts of PCBs, are not suitable for landfills. Until January, Pacific Steel was dumping about six truckloads of fluff daily in Mexicali. But Mexican officials ordered company officials to upgrade the landfill and the dumping stopped, Schiff said. While the company upgraded the Mexican landfill, the fluff piled up in National City.

Pacific Steel began transporting the fluff to Mexicali again this week, Schiff said. She said company officials informed her that they would transport as many as nine truckloads a day to the Mexican landfill.

An investigation of last week’s fire by the National City Fire Department concluded that the blaze was ignited by gasoline inside the tank of a car that was being shredded.

“One of the cars that went through the shredder had a gas tank attached and exploded inside the shredder. It was a typical Pacific Steel fire, but it never accumulated like this,” Schiff said.

Gas tanks are supposed to be removed from cars before they are shredded, but sometimes they are overlooked.

“I don’t think it was something they did intentionally. Once in a while one goes through,” Schiff said.

In order to prevent future fluff fires, Pacific Steel will build a concrete-block fence between the shredder and the fluff pile, she added.