Raid Yielded Firm Evidence of Toxic Dumping, Officials Say

An investigation of possible toxic-waste dumping in city sewers produced firm evidence that a Sun Valley chemical company violated hazardous-material laws, sanitation officials said Wednesday, although the company contends it is the victim of a “witch hunt” by city officials.

“I’m very, very sure of the evidence we’ve compiled,” said Norman Cotter, chief industrial waste inspector for the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation. Cotter was one of more than 15 sanitation, health and safety officials who spent Monday searching Redell Industries for evidence of illegal storage and dumping of hazardous chemicals.

Redell, which occupies five buildings in the 11600 block of Sheldon Street, uses a wide range of chemicals in the manufacture of products ranging from artificial food flavorings and drug components to an attractant used to lure Mediterranean fruit flies into traps.

Hearing to Be Scheduled

The city Board of Public Works will schedule a show-cause hearing within three weeks at which Redell executives can present evidence to show why the company should not be disconnected from the city sewer line, a spokesman for the Department of Public Works said. If a company is disconnected from the city line, it must hire a toxic-waste hauler to remove sewage.

“This is what I would consider a witch hunt,” said George Watson, director of environmental affairs for Redell. With the highly publicized raids, he said, “the city is . . . trying to eradicate businesses in the city that have anything to do with basic industry.” Watson denied that Redell violated any toxic-waste laws.

The investigation of Redell stemmed from a Dec. 31 incident in which fumes forced the evacuation of 450 people from Serra Memorial Health Center, a six-story medical center about a third of a mile west of the Redell plant. City officials said the fumes were toluene, a toxic solvent found in products such as spray paint and some glues. Health and fire officials traced the fumes to city sewers, Cotter said.

Is ‘Upstream’ From Hospital

The first suspected source of the toluene was Redell, Cotter said, which is on the same sewer line as the hospital. The medical center is connected to city sewers “downstream” from Redell’s sewer connection, which would explain how chemicals dumped by the firm might end up at the hospital, he said.

Sanitation inspectors found no other possible sources of the toluene in the area and began surveillance of Redell in January. Automated devices were installed on the sewer to sample the sewage hourly, Cotter said.

To ensure that any contaminants detected in the samples were from Redell and not some nearby firm, the sampling devices were installed both upstream and downstream from Redell, he said. With such a system, if the downstream samples contain chemicals not detected in the sewer above the suspect company, then that company can be the only source, he said.

Exceeded City Standards

On many occasions, high levels of several chemicals were detected, including toluene, Cotter said. Also, the sewage ranged widely in acidity or alkalinity, sometimes exceeding city standards for more than eight hours at a time, he said.

On Monday the raid produced more evidence bolstering the city’s allegation that Redell dumped toluene and other chemicals into the sewers, Cotter said. Inspectors found evidence that acid had etched a cement drain leading to the sewers, he said. In addition, barrels of chemical waste had been stored at the plant longer than the 90 days allowed by state law, he said.

Watson said some of the chemicals detected by the city in the sewer line are not used at Redell, ascribing the apparent etching of the cement drain to more than 30 years of use.

Cotter said a chemical inventory taken by city inspectors on the day of the raid had not been tallied by Wednesday, but that toluene definitely was among the chemicals used at the plant.

Disputes Findings

Watson said tests used by the city to identify the fumes at Serra in December are not capable of detecting specific chemicals such as toluene, but can detect only the presence of hydrocarbons, a broad class of compounds that includes such common substances as gasoline and natural gas.

But Bill Jones, a hazardous-materials specialist for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said air samples collected after the evacuation of the medical center did test positive for toluene. The tests were performed with a field kit specifically designed to detect toluene, he said.

Redell had previously received notices from the sanitation bureau requesting that the firm keep its sewage discharge within city standards, Cotter said.

Sanitation officials will continue to sample Redell’s sewage until the Board of Public Works votes to disconnect the firm’s sewer line or the company is cleared of wrongdoing, Cotter said.

Criminal Charges Possible

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office is examining evidence gathered Monday and data from the sampling program to decide whether criminal charges can be filed against Redell, said Gwendolyn Irby, the deputy city attorney handling the case.

Redell’s president, Paul Pratter, previously operated the National Chemical Co. on the site until it was closed in 1985 for fire-code violations, said Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn.

Pratter also founded Research Organic & Inorganic Chemical Co., a chemical supply company in Sun Valley.

After ownership of that firm was transferred to Pratter’s former wife, Marianne Pratter, in a divorce settlement, the plant was destroyed in 1985 by a fire generating chemical fumes that hospitalized 56 people. Marianne Pratter was charged with two felony counts of illegal disposal of hazardous wastes and three misdemeanor counts, all relating to mishandling or improper storage of waste after the fire.

Marianne Pratter pleaded not guilty to the charges in May of last year. A date for a preliminary hearing is expected to be set on May 5, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Marcia W. Strickland.

Marianne Pratter also owned a New Jersey firm with the name Research Organic & Inorganic Chemicals Co. that was blamed for a $1-million toxic-waste problem that led to her criminal conviction in 1984 on charges of reckless storage of hazardous materials and creating a risk of widespread injury. She was fined $15,000 and sentenced to perform five months of community service and placed on probation for three years.