[CPEO-MEF] Hazardous Waste Site Seeks to Reopen

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Hazardous Waste Site Seeks to Reopen
Environment: Saying that closure poses risks, owners of the San 
Bernardino County facility are contesting the state's efforts to shut it 
down permanently.

By SCOTT GOLD, TIMES STAFF WRITER

RIALTO -- In bloated drums and railroad cars, it began piling up two 
decades ago and was left, state officials say, to fester. Long-forgotten 
ordnance, the lead compound used to make detonating fuses, an acid so 
potent it was once harnessed to fuel torpedoes--it's all here, hidden in 
the recesses of a 20-acre hazardous waste storage facility.

The waste stored at Denova Environmental Inc., in the northern end of 
this San Bernardino County city, was so volatile that it ignited 
spontaneously last year, causing a brief fire and sending firefighters 
scrambling to develop contingency plans for evacuating the north end of 
Rialto.

Fearing that simply moving the chemical canisters could cause them to 
explode, firefighters called in the FBI and the local bomb squad to blow 
up 55-gallon containers of chemicals. Already temporarily shut down, the 
site will be permanently closed if state environmental officials have 
their way. Meanwhile, Denova Environmental is preparing to argue at a 
hearing next month that it is riskier to shut down the operation than to 
keep it open.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000021862mar26.story