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E-mail StoryOxnard gets its toxic ash together
| Monday, Jun 26 2006 5:30 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Jun 26 2006 5:34 PM
Let's hear it for the city of Oxnard. It finally got its ash together and moved it to where it belongs a hazardous waste dump.
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And let's hope we hear Kern County supervisors today tell U.S.A. Transport Inc. to move its operations, as well. The company is appealing the revocation of its permit to spread Oxnard's biosolids on Oxnard's farm near Wasco.
County officials forced Oxnard to clear a mountain of hazardous waste (refinery ash) that was being stored on the property in violation of its county permit. Oxnard faced a $3,000-a-day fine dating back to April if the approximately 100,000 tons of alkaline compounds remained on the property.
After howling and threatening legal action, Oxnard city officials moved quickly to get its ash together and haul it to Clean Harbors' hazardous waste facility near Buttonwillow.
As for U.S.A. Transport's permit, why bother? Local voters spoke loudly and clearly in June when they overwhelmingly passed Measure E. Kern County is no longer California's dumping ground.
Sludge spreading, including the stockpiling U.S.A. Transport was doing, will be history in six months.
Besides, when sludge spreading was allowed, U.S.A. Transport did not live by the rules. When Kern County officials finally dropped the hammer on the company and the City of Oxnard, more than five times the permitted amount of ash was being stored on the property.