June 22, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Youth group files complaint on Romic

by Sue Dremann

An East Palo Alto youth group has filed a federal civil rights complaint alleging "environmental racism" on the part of the state agency that grants permits to Romic Environmental Technologies, a hazardous-waste recycling firm at the end of Bay Road in East Palo Alto.

Romic is proposing to more than double its storage capacity for hazardous materials.

The group, Youth United for Community Action, in a nine-page document sent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), accused the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) of violating the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act in its review of a proposed expansion by Romic.

The group alleges the state has engaged in "environmental racism" against "low-income residents and residents of color" by allowing Romic to operate in East Palo Alto for 14 years under an expired permit. The state agency has also taken 11 years to complete a draft EIR, the complaint states.

The group alleges that East Palo Alto's Latino population -- about 41 percent of city residents -- has been excluded from the review process because no Spanish translation of documents have been made.

The agency's legal staff is currently reviewing the complaint, Angela Blanchette, the agency's public information officer, said. The federal EPA supplies funds to the state agency, which it designated to regulate Romic's operations. The DTSC has extended the public comment period on the draft EIR until Aug. 29. It will hold another public hearing June 30, 6:30 p.m. in the Cesar Chavez Academy cafeteria, 2450 Ralmar St., East Palo Alto. Call Nathan Schumacher for information (866) 495-5651.

Mohinder Sandhu, DTSC branch chief, said he regrets the time it took to prepare the draft EIR. He said EIRs take 18 months to two years to prepare if they are uncomplicated, such as when addressing a housing development. But they can take many years when examining hazardous-waste sites, and there is no law mandating a specific deadline for completion of draft EIRs, he said.

The Romic EIR was particularly complex because the process was interrupted several times, such as when the company changed ownership and because the state asked Romic for a detailed seismic assessment, which took another couple of years, he said. The agency also commissioned a "human health risk assessment," which took another two to three years, Sandhu said.

He said all meeting notices have been in both Spanish and English, and a translator is provided at public meetings. He said his department has not received even a single request for a Spanish translation of the documents themselves, something which neither the city, state nor federal have as yet done.

Romic, which has operated in East Palo Alto since 1963, is proposing to double its storage capacity of liquid toxic substances and quadruple its storage of dry hazardous materials, according to state documents. The company processes industrial wastes, including paint thinner, antifreeze, paints, oils, inks and adhesives.

The youth group and some residents want the plant shut down. They said Romic is responsible for leaking chemicals into the air and water, which may be responsible for a cancer rate of 1 in 32 residents, and an asthma rate of 1 in 4 youths aged 13 to 21.

"I don't feel safe having such a careless company in my back yard. I want to stop hearing that people get cancer and can't breathe every day," Larry Henderson, an East Palo Alto resident, said at the June 11 meeting.

Sandhu disagreed: "The health risk assessment looked at 18 areas, and in all others except for traffic flow there was no impact on health," he said.

Members of the audience remained unconvinced. As Sandhu and others spoke, some shouted and held up paper signs proclaiming agency officials "liars."

Sandhu said the Romic site is contaminated by hazardous substances -- an issue being addressed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- but that contamination wasn't caused by Romic.

"Prior to Romic, it was common practice to put in containment ponds, which was done by the previous company (in the 1950s)," he said. "The solvents leaked. That is the only release. I'm not aware of additional releases. Romic isn't responsible (for the contamination)" he said.

Romic spokesman Chris Stampolis said the company handles materials safely, and must comply with "so many government regulations that are designed to make it safe and contained" that there is little threat to the surrounding community.

But Romic does have a past history of violating state regulations. On April 7, Romic and the state attorney general's office announced an $849,500 settlement for major violations going back to 1999, according to state documents.

In 1994, Romic was fined by the state after a worker was seriously injured by toxic fumes. And the company was cited for illegally discharging cyanide into sewage lines in 1995. It also was cited for failing to notify the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant after detecting a carcinogenic compound, n-nitrosodimethylamine, in its wastewater discharge in 1999.

The pending permit would allow Romic to engage in new processes, including cleaning contaminated tankers, crushing contaminated barrels and squeezing water from contaminated sludge at its Bay Road site. The company will still process the same amount of material on a daily basis, despite the increased storage capacity, Stampolis emphasized.

Maria Banico, East Palo Alto Planning Department manager, said the city will take an active role regarding Romic's future operations. She said at the June 11 meeting that angry comments wouldn't be effective in keeping the permit from being granted. The public-comment period is for asking questions and putting reasoned arguments in writing so all concerns will be on the record, she said.

Copies of the documents are available at the East Palo Alto Public Library, and are online at www.dtsc.ca.gov/HazardousWaste/Romic/index.html. A compact disk containing the draft EIR and parts of the eight-volume draft permit are available by contacting Wei Wei Chui, (510) 540-3975 or Wchui@dtsc.ca.gov.

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

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