Aug 18, 2007

Hazmat facility has new operator

Redwood City hazardous material rail transfer site one of two in state

By Suzanne Bohan / MediaNews

A one-acre fenced facility at the Port of Redwood City, where workers transfer some 3.6 million gallons of hazardous waste into rail tankers each year, changed hands this week.

On Wednesday evening, the five-member Redwood City Port Commission voted to allow Clean Harbors Environmental Services to assume the site's lease from Romic Environmental Technologies.

The port commission's decision follows the Aug. 10 approval by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control for Clean Harbors to conditionally run the port's hazardous waste rail transfer facility.

Romic sold much of its assets - primarily its extensive client list - in June to Clean Harbors, and is in the process of shutting down its 14-acre East Palo Alto facility, which offered the state's most comprehensive range of hazardous waste recycling services. It's also closing its Arizona plant.

The decision followed a May 30 order from the state that sharply curtailed Romic's business by demanding closure of its treatment operations. Romic appealed that order, allowing it to continue operations. Chris Stampolis, a Romic spokesman, said economics, not the state's order, drove their decision to sell the company.

The Redwood City site is one of two hazardous waste rail transfer facilities in the state, said Charlene Williams, Northern California branch chief for enforcement with the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Clean Harbors runs the other one, next to its hazardous waste processing plant in San Jose.

Operating the Redwood City rail facility makes strategic sense for Clean Harbors, a Massachusetts-based company, given its site in San Jose, said Phil Retallick, senior vice president of compliance for the firm. Clean Harbors runs four other California hazardous waste facilities, and 44 sites nationwide, as well as facilities in Canada.

The addition of the Redwood City site, he said, moves up the company's ranking when competing for access to railroad tracks. Imports arriving in Oakland from China, and destined for inland U.S. cities, have increased demand for railroad shipping, he said.

Clean Harbors is applying for a 10-year permit to run the Redwood City rail transfer facility. During the permit-approval process, which takes place over the next six months, there will be a 60-day public comment period.

But Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction in San Francisco, isn't waiting to voice his opposition to the continued operation of the Redwood City site.

Angel stated that since the May 30 state order against Romic also required the closure of the rail transfer facility, the Department of Toxic Substances Control should honor that decision and not reverse course by allowing Clean Harbors to continue operating the rail facility.

"It was supposed to be closed," Angel said. "(The state) is ignoring its own enforcement order."

Williams, with the toxic substances control agency, responded that once Romic decided to sell its operation, the logic behind the rail transfer facility closure order changed.

"The fact is Romic was able to find an acceptable buyer," Williams said. "Clean Harbors' compliance record in California is above average."

Rail transfer sites like the one in Redwood City are the end of the road, literally, for liquid toxic wastes generated by manufacturers, machine shops, maritime operations, airports and numerous other industries. State and federal law requires these companies to follow strict rules in disposing of these wastes, and firms like Clean Harbors take this job off their hands.

Since its sale, Romic has stopped accepting waste, and is processing its existing inventory. The company then plans to sell its processing equipment, as well as the land, once environmental remediation is completed, according to Chris Stampolis, a spokesman for Romic.

For decades, community leaders and activists pushed for Romic's ouster from East Palo Alto, which opened in 1964. While it was once a major employer in the city, over the years Romic also accrued a long list of violations, ranging from employee injuries to accidental releases of toxic substances and scores of operational violations.

In 2005, the Department of Toxic Substances Control slapped an $849,500 fine on Romic for its history of violations.

Infractions at the Redwood City rail transfer site added to the fine with the state agency, Williams said. Those infractions included failing to inspect a containment system - designed to catch leaks of hazardous liquid - for cracks and erosion.

A worker also failed to note in an inspection log that he discovered a pool of spilled hazardous waste. "That's pretty critical," said Williams. "If you see something, you're supposed to write it down."

Retallick said that Clean Harbors will safely run the rail transfer site in Redwood City by following all state and federal laws and by maintaining high maintenance and personnel training standards.

He also noted that although enormous volumes of hazardous waste will be transferred at the site, including flammable, corrosive and toxic material like heavy metals, most of it is diluted. In contrast, Retallick said, gasoline tanker trucks commonly seen on roadways carry a pure - and explosive - product.