Unfortunately in 1980, CERCLA listed a toxic waste site in the small rural town of Ukiah, California (The seat of local government for Mendocino County). At the south end of town there is a wood pressure treatment plant with two names, Coast Wood Preserving, Inc. and Cal Coast Wholesale Lumber, Inc. (Johnson). This company started treating wood in 1971, and their trouble with North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) began in 1972 when storm run-off carried toxic chemicals into the Russian River which supplies water to approximately 95,000 homeowners in Sonoma County (Page). After the RWQCB found the soil and groundwater at Coast Wood contaminated with the toxic chemicals used in the pressure treatment of wood, they brought it to the attention of the EPA and California Department of Health Services (DHS). But no formal action was taken until the company was put on the "Superfund List" in 1980 (Ball).
The soil and ground water at Coast Wood were found to have elevated concentrations of chromium, arsenic, and copper as the result of past handling and storage practices (EPA Program). Joseph de Turbiville, a former employee of Coast Wood, stated in a personal interview that the handling of toxic chemicals in 1984 was indeed dangerous. The holding pond and tanks would overflow. Treated wood was moved out of the drying area while it was still dripping. There were also large amounts of toxic chemicals on the equipment. The Cease and Desist Order issued by the State in 1981 did not stop the poor handling of toxic chemicals at the site of Coast Wood or stop dissolved concentrations of arsenic and chromium from reaching the Russian River (EPA Program).
The North Coast Water Quality Control Board instructed Coast Wood that they needed to expand efforts to chart ground water pollution, and the company was given an abatement order to submit a clean up schedule by April 15, 1987 (Page). Deciding to clean up the treatment plant before it could be closed down by the state, Coast Wood Preserving hired a company called Geosystems to handle the proposed plans to install new equipment to control the toxic chemicals used in the pressure treatment of wood (Leach). The EPA held a hearing in Ukiah in 1988, however, Coast Wood did not produce a proposed clean up plan until May of 1989 (Ball).In the official proposed cleanup plan from the California Department of Health Services, it was determined that the preferred alternatives to mitigating the contamination at the Coast Wood site were:
1. Surface run-off management.
2. Remediation of contaminated soil.
3. Plume control and aquifer remediation.
4. Electrochemical treatment of groundwater.
5. Water recycling, discharge to sewage treatment plant or reinjection.
The cleanup plan also noted that all remedial alternatives would require long-term monitoring and the "Superfund" requires review of the remedy effectiveness every five years (CDHS 5).
The DHS has estimated the costs for soil removal and onsite treatment to be one million dollars without considering inflation or interest. In order to insure that sufficient funds would be available at the time the Coast Wood site closed, the company was ordered to deposit one hundred thousand dollars annually for the next ten years into an interest trust account established for this purpose (CDHS 3). When the first deposit was made, Coast Wood only came up with fifty thousand dollars and the state told them that this was unacceptable. Shortly after Coast Wood was contacted about this matter, they came up with the full amount to be deposited into the trust account (Leach).The proposed cleanup time of the ground water at the Coast Wood site was estimated to be twenty years (CDHS 3). The state also estimated the remaining productive life of Coast Wood to be ten years in 1989 (CDHS 3). When Butch Hood, the sales manager of Cal Coast Wholesale Lumber, was asked if the treatment plant was going to close down at the end of ten years, he said that he knew nothing about it. When Cordes P. Langley, the vice president of Coast Wood Preserving, was asked the same question, he stated that if the company was still being harassed, he might just close up and go fishing.In a personal tour of Coast Wood Preserving it was apparent that the company had done everything required by the Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Health Services, and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. The company had paved the site and has also installed a pump and holding tank system to trap rain water before it can run-off their property; this water is recycled for plant use (Hood). The RWQCB will not allow the company to discharge its waste water into the Ukiah Sewer Plant, so Coast Wood has begun to inject the water back into one of the underground wells on the plant site (Leach and CDHS 5). This fact leaves the question of whether the toxic waste water from the plant will ever stop going into the Russian River.
The EPA enforcement officer, Robert Bornstein, stated in a letter written to Michelle Rembaum of the DHS that he believes the toxic waste water will make its way around the slurry walls into the Russian River if Coast Wood Preserving uses an onsite reinjection well. Mr. Bornstein also stated he would rather have the plant use the Ukiah Sewer Treatment Plant instead. An unnamed employee at the sewer plant said that Coast Wood has never had any waste water treated through them (Ukiah Sewer Plant). Bonnie Rolandelli, an associate engineering geologist for RWQCB has ignored this request from Mr. Bornstein, and the reinjection of toxic waste water into the ground continues to date (Rolandelli). Could this fact be the cause of the high levels of arsenic and chromium in the water samples taken from the Coast Wood Preserving site by Ms. Rolandelli on March 12, 1991 (Rolandelli letter)?
The general consensus of the neighboring land owners is that they do not care and do not want to talk about the pollution of the groundwater that many of them are currently using. The only one who would take the time to talk about the problem of Coast Wood Preserving was John Mattern. This man at least wanted to know what kind of chemicals they used at the treatment plant and how dangerous they are. Mr. Mattern was concerned because he uses ground water for the vineyard that is currently on his land. Daniel and Becky Thomas own a large pear farm across the road from the treatment plant and are not concerned about the groundwater on their property being polluted. The Thomas farm has a catalog warehouse that ships pears all around the world (Johnson). Are they shipping pears contaminated with arsenic and chromium?
The polluting of the Russian River with the toxic chemicals arsenic and chromium is not the only land this corporation has been reckless with. There is also a plant in Fontana, California (Gwin). The name of this plant is Fontana Wood Preserving and it has also made its way to the Superfund list as of June, 1988 (Ball). Will this corporation ever change their handling practices of toxic chemicals? Will the now financially troubled Superfund be able to stop them from polluting anymore (Superfund Costs A1)?
In order for the Superfund to stay on top of polluters like Coast and Fontana Wood Preserving, it is in need of one hundred billion dollars not the five billion dollars the fund has been given for a five year period of time by President Reagan in 1985 (Green). The Superfund is still waiting for President bush and Congress to approve the money needed to continue the cleanup of the remaining 1203 sites left on the Superfund list (Viviano A4). Does the public have to learn to live with toxic waste or will the Superfund come through in the end (Learning to Live A1)?
(For a list of references cited, contact Betty at the MEC.)
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited