Hahn Calls on State to Close Noncompliant Waste Management Facility Posing Threat to Residents
Hahn sends letter to Department of Toxic Substances Control
Los Angeles, CA – This morning, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn sent a letter to Meredith Williams, Director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) expressing concerns about the Phibro-Tech waste management facility in Santa Fe Springs and calling on the state agency to shutter the facility until it complies with state toxic substance regulations. Later this month, DTSC will render a final decision on whether to grant the company a permit to continue operating.
“This facility is toxic and its owners know it, as does DTSC and the neighbors. Less than 400 yards from thousands of homes, this known violator of state health and safety laws has been allowed to continue operating. It has to stop immediately,” said Hahn.
The Phibro-Tech facility, located at 8851 Dice Road in Santa Fe Springs, generates, handles, treats, and stores hazardous waste including wastewater from local industries with high concentrations of copper, lead, chromium, nickel, sulfates and chlorides. Residents of the neighboring unincorporated community of Los Nietos, sandwiched between this facility and the 605 freeway, have expressed concerns and frustration with the facility’s past violations, including 23 issued by DTSC itself.
Hahn’s letter to Williams reads in part: “Not only do I urge the DTSC not to approve a new permit for this facility, I believe that this facility needs to be shut down entirely until it can come into compliance with the law.”
Read the letter here or the text below:
March 13, 2024
Ms. Meredith Williams
Director of Department of Toxic Substances Control
5701 South Eastern Avenue
Suite 630
Commerce, CA 90040
Re: Final Permit Decision for PhiBro Tech Incorporated
Dear Ms. Williams,
I am writing to share my concerns about DTSC rendering a final permit decision for Phibro-Tech Incorporated, a hazardous waste management facility located in my district at 8851 Dice Road, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670.
Phibro-Tech generates, handles, treats, and stores hazardous waste. This includes handling wastewater from local industries with high concentrations of copper, lead, chromium, nickel, sulfates and chlorides – chemicals that pose serious risks to the health of local residents especially if handled improperly.
This facility has a long record of violating health and safety laws. In recent years, your departments inspectors have cited Phibro-Tech with 19 class one violations and 4 class two violations for leaking containers and cracked containment barriers, and fined the facility $495,000 for illegal storage and treatment of hazardous waste. The SCAQMD cited the facility for releasing ammonia gas. CalOSHA cited Phibro-Tech for unsafe working conditions that left one worker with acid burns and another with breathing problems after being sprayed in the face with hydrochloric acid.
Unfortunately, this problematic facility is located only 352 yards from my constituents living in the residential unincorporated Los Nietos community. Los Nietos is one of the most environmentally vulnerable communities in the state, and several schools including, Los Nietos Middle School, are located within a one-mile radius from the Phibro-Tech site.
I share the concerns of Los Nietos residents who are frustrated with Phibro-Tech’s repeated violations and do not want to see the facility rewarded with a final permit decision.
Not only do I urge the DTSC not to approve a new permit for this facility, I believe that this facility needs to be shut down entirely until it can come into compliance with the law. Phibro-Tech poses too great of a threat to the health and safety of its workers and the local community.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and your commitment to protecting California’s public health and environment.
Sincerely,
JANICE HAHN
Supervisor, Fourth District
County of Los Angeles
Cc: Ms. Katie Butler, Hazardous Waste Management Program Deputy Director, DTSC
Mr. Rao Akula, Project Manager, Permitting Division, DTSC
Mr. Phillip Blum, Supervisor, Chatsworth Permitting Division, DTSC