Sludge Watch ==> Oxnard Calif - sues USA Transport for $3.5M clean up sludge / ash

[Maureen Reilly]

Oxnard sues firm over $3.5 million clean-up
By Charles Levin (Contact)
Friday, May 18, 2007


Oxnard has sued the operator of its Kern County farm, hoping to recoup at 
least $3.5 million it spent to rid the site of a large cache of allegedly 
hazardous waste.

At issue is the storage of 125,000 tons of gypsum ash at the farm, northwest 
of Wasco. Oxnard leased the farm in 1995 to Adelanto-based USA Transport, 
which hauled wastewater sludge from Oxnard and other Ventura County cities 
to the site for use as fertilizer.

USA Transport treated the sludge, also known as biosolids, with the gypsum 
to remove pathogens.

In 2005, Kern County planning officials charged that the city exceeded the 
allowable amount of gypsum it could store at the 1,280-acre farm. Kern 
County zoning rules allow storing up to a one-year's supply, or 16,000 tons, 
of gypsum at the farm, according to the suit. In fact, the cache ballooned 
to 125,000 tons, the suit says.

Kern County regulators cited Oxnard for excess storage and zoning violations 
in 2005. Shortly after, USA Transport began removing gypsum from the site.

But USA Transport removed only 25,000 tons by January 2006 and then "stated 
it could not remove the material at its own cost and expense," the suit 
says.

Later that month, the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control 
declared the gypsum hazardous waste a charge that Oxnard has disputed.

By April 2006, however, Kern County's Board of Supervisors fined Oxnard and 
USA Transport $25,000 each for violating public nuisance codes and ordered 
the city to remove the gypsum within 90 days or face additional penalties of 
$3,000 a day.

The city complied with the order, avoiding the penalties.

The city had to hire another carrier to help USA Transport finish the job 
and meet the deadline, Assistant City Attorney Alan Holmberg said Thursday.

Cleanup costs exceeded $3.5 million once the city learned the scope of the 
problem, according to Mark Norris, Oxnard's assistant director of public 
works.

In hindsight, the city now believes there was 125,000 tons of gypsum on the 
site by May 2005, Holmberg said.

Oxnard employed someone to monitor the farm, but that person focused on how 
the sludge was applied, not storage amounts, Norris said Thursday.

The suit, filed Jan. 24 in Ventura Superior Court, charges USA Transport and 
company President Gary Leslie with breach of contract and negligence. The 
suit also alleges that USA Transport owes the city $522,000.

Leslie did not return a telephone call on Thursday.

Daniel Katz, Leslie's Riverside-based attorney, said Thursday that the 
amount of gypsum never reached 125,000 tons. Katz could not say how much was 
there when regulators closed down the operation. "I don't feel comfortable 
giving estimates without speaking to experts or consultants," Katz said.

Charging that USA "could not remove the material" was a generalized 
allegation, Katz said.

"USA was unable to do it in 90 days," Katz said, adding the company at the 
time believed it could have done the job in 180 days.

Katz also denied that his client owed the city $522,000. "If any money is 
owed, it's less than that amount," Katz said.

Studies to determine whether the gypsum was hazardous waste are still 
pending, Phil Blum, a supervising scientist with the Toxic Substances 
Control agency, said Thursday.