State says tons of ash on Kern County site is hazardous

AP State Wire via Fresno Bee ^ | 02-03-06 | AP

[Amerigomag]

WASCO, Calif. (AP) - Ash used to treat wastewater sludge was found to be hazardous and immediately must be removed from Kern County, state officials said Friday.

The city of Oxnard, which owns the farmland outside of Wasco where the corrosive ash was being stored, agreed to begin moving the massive piles from the site last year at the request of Kern County officials. The material, a byproduct of an oil refinery called BP West Coast Products LLC in the Los Angeles area, is used to destroy pathogens in human and industrial waste, said Mark Norris, Oxnard's wastewater superintendent.

In Friday's letter ordering its immediate removal, officials from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control said the pH level of the ash is too high - about the strength of household drain cleaner, said Kern County Planner Ted James. Environmental regulators have said the ash is capable of causing blindness.

Oxnard officials initially told Kern County that the substance was not toxic. The piles eventually grew to more than 70,000 tons - far exceeding the legal storage limit of 16,800 tons - and the county asked Oxnard to move some of it in August 2005, James said.

Kern County leaders recently have fought to keep other municipalities from dumping treated human waste on its farmland. The county takes in about 450,000 tons of treated sewage each year from cities and counties in the Los Angeles basin.

[Nick Danger]

ordering its immediate removal

To where? Nothing can be cleaned without something else getting dirty. If we're going to louse someplace up, and it costs too much to truck it to Barbra Streisand's house and dump it there, it might as well be Wasco.

[BobS]

Wait a minute. I know a very nice clean beach near there.

"California Department of Toxic Substances Control said the pH level of the ash is too high - about the strength of household drain cleaner"

Are they talking about the pH of acid or hydroxides and what do they consider drain cleaner? 7 is neutral. Are they talking 1 or 14? Nitric acid is on one end and sodium/potassium hydroxide is on the other.

Hopefully they won't do anything that screws up Port Hueneme State Beach. I like catching 2" or 3" fish on the end of the pier with a 12 foot sea fishing pole! And smile for pictures, LOL! I guess the fat seagulls I follow have a reason for being fat!

So I blew the cover on the best beach in Ventura County:) Check it out.

[umgud]

If we close down all the hazardous waste facilities, hazardous waste will go away (cease to exist).

If we close down all the sewage plants (they stink), crap will cease to exist.

And.......... if we shut down all the cemetaries, we'll live forever.

[BobS]

B.S.'s house is a good 40 miles south of there in Malibu and has the brown-foamed waves with taco turds slapping at her land from L.A. Port Hueneme/Oxnard/Pt.Mugu has normal healthy ocean water and you can see an island or 2 many miles offshore on a clear day. That's Ventura County. B.S. isn't liked there. She can go to Santa Barbara County about 50 miles north and slither in there like Michael Jackson.

[BobS]

These people are un-informed.

"Kern County leaders recently have fought to keep other municipalities from dumping treated human waste on its farmland. The county takes in about 450,000 tons of treated sewage each year from cities and counties in the Los Angeles basin." - what officials?

It's not treated human waste. It's processed general organic waste that is in a powdered form after processing with heat and other procedures after being collected. It's sold as fertilizer and is a little more expensive than cow dung- without living things in it.