The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved quickly in setting up a site at a Los Angeles County park in Azusa for receiving hazardous debris from the mammoth Eaton fire — without notifying residents in nearby cities — because it was ordered to expedite the site by President Donald Trump, an official said on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
When asked by L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis at the supervisor’s board meeting why local cities were not contacted or made aware of the pending action, EPA on-scene coordinator Celeste McCoy said she received an executive order by the president within the past 48 hours to hurry things up.
“Under the new administration, we have received an executive order to expedite this process,” McCoy said, in response to a question from Solis on why local cities were not told until the site was ready. The EPA began taking hazardous materials from burned homes and businesses to the site on Monday, the agency reported.
The site for Eaton fire hazardous waste debris is at Lario Park, a county park at 15701 Foothill Blvd., located along the eastern bank of the San Gabriel River in Azusa, near Duarte, EPA and local officials reported. The park is leased from land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
City officials from Azusa, Duarte, Irwindale and Baldwin Park all strongly oppose the location, saying bringing in hazardous materials so close to residential populations unaffected by the fire can pollute the air and poison the ground water, a major source of local drinking water.
In a letter to the EPA on Monday, Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-El Monte, newly elected Congress representative to represent the area, said he was concerned with the agency’s transparency under the Trump administration.
“The EPA did not solicit any feedback from local leaders,” he wrote. “I have serious questions about the EPA’s establishment of this site with no prior notification or safety briefing with relevant local, state, and federal officials,” wrote Cisneros.
The Duarte City Council was scheduled to discuss the temporary waste site at its meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m.
State Sen Susan Rubio and local mayors are hosting a town hall on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6 p.m. at the Duarte Performing Arts Center, 1401 Highland Ave.
And the Azusa City Council will discuss the matter at its meeting on Monday, Feb. 3.
“We understand you have to move with efficiency,” said Azusa Mayor Robert Gonzales. “But it is still worth the courtesy of a phone call or an email.”
Solis, who asked McCoy several questions, said Azusa, Duarte, Irwindale and Baldwin Park should have been made aware that this site will be used to accept hazardous waste, such as paint, oils, pesticides, propane tanks and lithium ion batteries from electric and plug-in cars and battery walls on houses.
“There is a sense the government has failed to notify our community,” said Solis, seeming to include L.A. County government.
Gonzales said the county must have known about the EPA and Army Corps making a deal to use the site. Solis did not indicate the county knew anything until it was reported in the news media.
“There were deals cut and we happened to be caught in the crosshairs,” Gonzales said.
McCoy said the Lario Park site was chosen because it was owned by a federal agency, making the transaction easier to complete. It has enough, flat acreage to spread tarps and receive hazardous waste from the fire zone.
“The Lario Staging Area was chosen because it was owned by the Army Corps of Engineers,” McCoy explained. “This area will be temporary. It will be a matter of months — less than six months,” she estimated.
A site for collecting hazardous waste from the Palisades fire was being set up within the fire zone, on a lot of a burned-down building in Malibu, roughly located near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, said Rusty Harris-Bishop, a site cleanup section manager for the EPA.
McCoy said the EPA is seeking to set up additional staging areas for hazardous waste removal, part of a phase one process. The major part of the debris will then be moved from the sites and taken to landfills in the second phase, the EPA explained.
Gonzales objected to hazardous waste being taken by stake-bed truck about 16 miles to the site in Azusa. And he said being on the San Gabriel River, which takes fresh mountain runoff and delivers it into nearby spreading grounds for potable water storage makes it a poor site.
“There are sites they could’ve used in Altadena,” Gonzales said.
McCoy explained that the trucks will not use the 210 Freeway but will stick exclusively to surface streets. She said traveling too fast is unsafe.
“They are taken off the highway for safety reasons. The higher the speed, the more risk we have. We are also carrying lithium ion batteries. It’s a lower risk with slower speeds (on surface streets),” McCoy told the supervisors.
The cities said they are very concerned about trucks carrying hazardous waste riding through city streets, possibly getting into an accident and tipping over and spilling their load.
Supervisor Holly Mitchell asked who will be doing the air quality monitoring at the site. “Air quality has been brought up to us 10 times a day,” McCoy said. She added that perimeter air monitors will be operated by the EPA and its contractors. They are also in consultation with the South Coast Air Quality Management District.