Dump’s Past Reveals Little About Debris

A single question haunts the firefighters who battled a dump fire in a massive pile of debris last summer.

What was in the pile at Santa Clarita Greenwaste?

Firefighters fear the pile, which was supposed to hold only sticks, grass and other yard waste, actually contained toxic chemicals. Bulldozer operators say they saw drywall, paint cans and other construction material when working in the mound, which towered 90 feet high over a 4-acre area.

The recycling center operator said he believes the small mountain contained only green yard waste. County officials in charge of monitoring the facility back that up, though they aren’t certain.

“There’s nothing I’m aware of that would indicate anything there other than what they were supposed to have, but I don’t know for sure,” said Richard Hanson, chief of the county’s solid waste management program.

One thing is certain: The site has a long history. In 1876, one of California’s first oil wells operated a few hundred feet from the pile that caught fire. The Pioneer well, as it was called, produced for on-site refining mostly kerosene and benzene during its short life.

After the owners moved in 1884, the refinery was shut down. The use of the site remains unknown during most of the next 100 years, though a review of land records dating back to 1900 shows the property rested in the hands of Standard Oil Co., now Chevron Corp.

In 1979, according to land records, Chevron sold part of the refinery to Hank Arklin, the current owner, whose nephews are well-known waste haulers in the Palmdale area.

The actual refinery, with the ancient, rusted equipment still intact, was given to the city of Santa Clarita a year ago. At the time, testing revealed high levels of contaminated soil, records show. Chevron has promised to pay the city for any cleanup costs associated with development of the old refinery site.

Another concern is the more recent history. In 1992, Santa Clara Disposal Co. applied to run a green-waste recycling center on the site, records show. The company’s general manager, Dennis Verner, said the site operated for only about six months and accepted only yard waste from local gardeners.

In 1994, according to Santa Clarita officials, the site was used to store debris from the Northridge earthquake, mostly concrete later crushed and used in the widening of California 126.

In 1995, records show, Ray Becerra Jr. applied to run a business on the site to recycle yard waste as well as construction materials such as metals and concrete. Becerra, whose company was called R & S Recycling, couldn’t be located for comment.

However, the current operator, Mike Lippis, said he took over from Becerra in spring 1996. By that time, he said, a huge pile of debris had already accumulated. He said he is not completely sure what the pile contains.

“Ninety-five percent of it, we’ve been through, and we haven’t uncovered any toxins in the last 2 1/2 years,” Lippis said.

Under new state laws governing composting centers, county officials began to monitor the site for the first time in July 1996. County monitoring reports show only minor violations at the site, none reflecting improper waste disposal.

However, some question the effectiveness of the monitoring program. In August 1998, the regular county inspector for the facility was on vacation. A new inspector noted an enormous mound of trash on the site, in violation of code. Lippis was instructed to clean up the trash pile, located near the massive green-waste pile.

When questioned as to how the regular inspector missed a mound of trash 25 feet high and 60 feet long, Hanson said the inspector noted the pile on a previous report. The report had since been misplaced, he said.

Immediately after the fire, Hanson’s department ordered Lippis to begin reducing the size of the green-waste pile. By the time concerns arose about the contents of the mound, Lippis had already shipped away nearly 67 truckloads of material.

The material that remained--some 9,000 cubic feet--has been tested by two agencies: the county’s Health and Hazardous Materials Team and the state’s Department of Fish and Game.

None of the nine samples taken showed high levels of toxic substances, though both departments caution that their sampling is not supposed to be definitive.

“The site was not hot,” said Jeff Berliner, industrial hygienist with Fish and Game.

Currently, Lippis is not allowed to accept new yard waste. To reduce the size of the partially burned pile, he has been giving the mulch to Limoneira Co., the largest citrus grower in Ventura County and second-largest avocado grower in the state. The company uses it to improve soil conditions on a 30-acre field of young avocado trees.

Chris Taylor, senior vice president at Limoneira, said he’s been happy so far with the material received. The company tests every fifth truckload of material, and so far no mulch has had high levels of heavy metals and salts, he said.

“It’s passing all the tests for us,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t kill trees.”