Post by Jean Anker on Mar 3, 2010 16:44:29 GMT -8
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Ventura County Star
Razing Halaco buildings a milestone in plant cleanup
By Scott Hadly
Originally published 04:34 p.m., March 1, 2010
Updated 09:54 p.m., March 1, 2010
Looking past the piles of rubble and scrap metal at the former Halaco metals recycling plant on Monday, a group of public officials saw the wetlands and ocean vista, a sight not seen from here in 40 years.
Gone were two massive buildings that once dominated the skyline and pumped tons of contaminants into the surrounding environment in Oxnard.
Local officials met Monday with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Superfund Director Keith Takata and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, to mark another modest milestone in the cleanup of the almost 40-acres on Perkins Road at Ormond Beach.
“We’re not done yet,” said Takata, who noted that over the last few weeks his crews have been able to tear down the structurally unsound buildings ahead of schedule and under budget.
“Doesn’t this look great,” he said, gesturing toward the ocean, a view that was once blocked by the graffiti-covered buildings.
The EPA cleanup at the site started three years ago with an “emergency action” to stabilize the waste piled there and secure the property. That work and the testing cost almost $6 million.
Since then, the site has been included on a Superfund cleanup list and the agency has been studying the waste to determine the best way to clean it up.
Takata was in Oxnard on Monday to mark the most recently completed work, the demolition of two big and dangerous structures that once housed Halaco’s smelters and air filtering equipment. The demolition and cleanup was budgeted at $1.6 million, but so far has cost much less.
The most difficult work lies ahead, Takata said. The agency must determine what to do with the 700,000 cubic yards of waste left over in a huge slag pile on the property.
But Monday’s event was meant to mark progress.
Capps, who was praised for pressing for action at the site, singled out community activists for their work over the decades to shut down Halaco and clean up the property.
With all but one building at the site now gone, Capps said it’s easier to imagine the property will be cleaned for recreation or conservation.
“I will work with you all to stay with this challenge until it is absolutely finished,” she said.
Crews finished most of the demolition work more than a week ago. Much of the material — the metal and wood — will be recycled, according to the EPA.
Members of the Haack family, who owned Halaco, and according to federal officials are still on the hook for its cleanup, planned to ship three large furnaces that were once used at the plant to a magnesium recycling plant in Tennessee.
Oxnard city officials said they were lobbying federal officials to use the remaining money to tear down one last structure at the site, an old office and warehouse building.
“We’d like to see those come down too,” Mayor Tom Holden said.
Holden and other city officials are trying to make the case that the structure is a nuisance that attracts vandals and should go. Meanwhile, the mayor said the city is going through the process of planning what to do in this part of the city. There’s debate over how many acres in the area should be preserved. There also is discussion over whether about 11 acres along Perkins Road should continue to be zoned for industrial use. Some have pushed to consider converting all the land to wetlands.
“It wasn’t long ago that there were plans for 3,000 homes and now we have 700 acres of wetlands set aside with discussions about more,” Holden said.