The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently has settled with four parties of the now defunct Halaco Engineering Company and agreed to stabilize and secure the former smelter site near Ormond Beach in Oxnard, Calif.
John M. Haack, Robert D. Haack, Clarence W. Haack, and the Clarence W. Haack Living Trust are named in the agreement requiring a time-critical removal action to protect public health and the environment, as well as controlling hazardous substances onsite.
Halaco Engineering Co. is currently in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and operated at problem location for almost 40 years. The company is responsible for the actual or threatened releases of hazardous substances at this location, including heavy metals, radioactive isotopes, flammable liquids and corrosive liquids and solids.
The Halaco Engineering Co. site is adjacent to the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by sensitive ecosystems, including the Ormond Beach Wetlands and Lagoon, which are habitat for multiple threatened or endangered species. As part of its legacy, Halaco left behind a 28-acre waste management pile that includes an estimated 400,000 cubic yards of waste that is adjacent to the wetlands and lagoon.
The EPA determined that time-critical removal action was needed at this site given the unsecured nature of the facility, the evidence of trespass and vandalism, and the existence of uncontrolled hazardous substances onsite.
The removal action at the site will include securing the facility against continued trespass, identifying and containing sources of radioactive contamination disposal of all liquid and solid wastes from containment structures.
In addition to performing the removal action, the settling parties agreed to pay the EPA for all future response costs related to this removal action at the facility.