The pollution from underground gas tanks at the ARCO station in the Bridgeport section of Seal Beach is nothing new (see our related story below). It was first discovered in the 1980’s. But, now the plume of underground pollution is spreading beyond the area of the station at 490 Pacific Coast Highway, Seal Beach. The local residents want the station demolished and the contaminated soil dug up and hauled away, but ARCO is not moving fast enough for the residents, so they picketed the station last Saturday.

In a recent letter to ARCO, the Orange County Department of Environmental Health, rejected the company’s cleanup plan, dubbed a corrective action plan, or CAP. The April 19, 2010 letter from Richard Sanchez, Director, Orange County Environmental Health, was the official response to the ARCO preliminary CAP, dated February 16, 2010. The Environmental Health unit is part of the Orange County Healthcare Agency, or OCHCA. Sanchez’s letter was addressed to Darrell K. Fah, Atlantic Richfield Company, in La Palma.

The main issue of contention is which method should be used to clean up the polluted soil. ARCO identified four different cleanup options, but then rejected the “dig and haul” approach, which is what the residents and the City of Seal Beach want done.

Sanchez’s letter includes the following:

“The OCHCA has determined that although all four of the preliminary CAP remedial alternatives have a potential to achieve acceptable cleanup goals, only excavation of the source area provides the highest level of certainty in terms of having a clearly defined scope of work, a definite time frame for completing the work and the clear ability to determine the effectiveness of the completed work. Excavation of all of the contamination at the gasoline station will not eliminate all soil vapor or groundwater contamination on and off-site, but it can eliminate the source of further soil gas and groundwater contamination on-site and in the adjacent neighborhood and will speed the case to closure. The most significant impact of the contamination at this site has been the potential health risks and well-being of the community residents. Although cost effectiveness is one factor in evaluating the CAP of any underground storage tank (UST) cleanup case, the ongoing potential health impacts and disruptions to the community coupled with the age of this case, requires a revised CAP that provides the most immediate, effective and certain final remedy for this site.
Given the significant uncertainty regarding the duration and effectiveness of the selected cleanup strategies in the preliminary CAP, the OCHCA does not concur with the preferred alternatives and requests ARCO submit a revised CAP that provides a cleanup approach that is optimized for effectiveness and timeliness.”

While the above quote appears to indicate the county agrees with the city and the residents that dig and haul is the best option, Sanchez stops short of ordering that approach. In fact, during an interview for our previous article (see related article below), Sanchez told www.OC180NEWS.com he does not have the authority to order one specific approach to the cleanup. All he can do is keep rejecting the proposed CAP’s until he gets one he likes. ARCO has 60 days to respond to Sanchez’s letter, so if ARCO doesn’t accept the dig and haul approach, the process could drag on for a long time.

Matt Rezvani, General Manager of West Coast External Affairs for BP/ARCO, said “Our plan is to comply with all of those requirements that the Orange County Healthcare Agency has asked us to do.” Rezvani acknowledged that dig and haul is one option, but he said “We believe that there are other options that are just as effective and causes fewer interruptions for the community.” Of course, the other options will not cost ARCO as much money, but we are sure community interruption is ARCO’s only motivation.

But, he also indicated the Healthcare Agency is the final decision maker. Does that mean if the Healthcare Agency ordered a dig and haul solution, ARCO is prepared to do it? Rezvani said “If the Orange County Healthcare Agency comes out and says that is the best option, that’s what we will do.”

We asked Rezvani if that wasn’t what Sanchez’s letter (particularly the section quoted above) already indicates? He said “Nevertheless, in the same letter, the Orange County Healthcare Agency has asked us to provide information on all the other options, because they really, in our opinion, have not come up with that {dig and haul} as being the only option. We also don’t believe it’s the only option, so we will give them all the information in a revised remediation plan and then we’ll see where they end up.”

In the mean time, the residents want to make their voices heard. They held a sign carrying protest at the gas station last Saturday. According to local resident Robert Goldberg, about 25 to 30 people attended the protest which lasted from 9:00 am to noon.

Goldberg described the protest as “kind of a shot across the bow to ARCO to let them know we’re capable of doing community action if they don’t do the right thing.” Goldberg indicated the residents are considering other actions before the end of the 60 day response time, but no specific plans have been adopted yet.

Goldberg added “The feeling of the group was that ARCO was probably going to want to fight it {dig and haul} and drag their feet. We also found out that ARCO has hired Pringle and Associates {Curt Pringle & Associates, LLC, Anaheim and Sacramento} as a lobbyist firm—which is Curt Pringle, Mayor of Anaheim. {Also former Speaker of the California State Assembly} He’s highly connected in Sacramento. So that tells you that they’re spending money and focusing a lot of effort on trying to turn things around their way, instead of just doing the dig and haul.”

Spokesman Rezvani confirmed the Pringle firm has been hired by ARCO. He told www.OC180NEWS.com “ARCO has hired Pringle if we need to have any discussions with some elected officials to educate them on what we are doing, and if they have any concerns, to be able to answer their questions and educate them.” We asked Rezvani if Pringle was going to be lobbying the Healthcare Agency to change their recommendations, and he said “No, they’re not.”

Rezvani indicated the Pringle firm would respond to questions and be used to set up meetings with elected officials. But Rezvani said the lobbying firm is not currently setting up meetings, but would do so if the need developed.