Ascon

For more than four decades, oil companies dumped their toxic sludge on a patch of land along Huntington Beach's coastline. From 1938 through 1984, Ascon was the receptacle for waste from oil-drilling operations and construction projects. Among the contaminants on a 38-acre site at the southwest corner of Hamilton Avenue and Magnolia Street near Edison High School are volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, as well as metals such as arsenic and lead.

The three-year cleanup of the contaminated Ascon dump site will begin later this month, state officials said. More than four decades of dumping have contaminated soil and groundwater at the 38-acre site, at the southwest corner of Hamilton Avenue and Magnolia Street. Five dark, oily lagoons and a covered styrene pit surrounded by piles of tires, pipes, wood piles and other construction debris make up the dump site. The eight companies responsible for the waste are in the process of extensive testing of the soil, air and groundwater, said Jeanne Garcia, spokeswoman for the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the state agency overseeing the investigation and cleanup.

It is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Seven major oil companies have agreed, and one is being forced, to pay for the cleanup of the Ascon toxic dump. The polluted site in Southeast Huntington Beach, which sits between the AES Huntington Beach power plant and Edison High School, has long been a sore spot in the community. For five decades, oil and chemical companies dumped their crude-oil waste, styrene and other toxic compounds on the 38-acre parcel.

State environmental officials are hoping to have two potentially hazardous tanks removed from the Ascon dump site by next week. Workers from the state Department of Oil And Gas found the petroleum-based substance while cleaning up after an oil well that ruptured March 17, gushing 40 feet in the air and spraying 360 Huntington Beach homes. The idle well, which workers are in the process of abandoning, sits on the former Ascon landfill at Hamilton Avenue and Magnolia Street.

The largest oil and chemical companies that unloaded polluted waste on the Ascon property for five decades are scheduled to begin final talks with regulators on an agreement to clean up the toxic dump, a state toxics spokeswoman said. Once negotiations are complete, the nine companies are expected to sign what is known as a consent order, in which they agree to clean up a noxious styrene pit, lagoons of oily waste and a handful of other chemicals spread across the terrain of the 38-acre property.

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY Something may be seriously amiss in southeast Huntington Beach. According to a recent report in the Orange County Weekly, four children from that area died between February 2000 and June 2003 of a deadly brain cancer called brainstem glioma. This is an exceedingly rare cancer. Data from the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States indicates that only six out of every million children younger than 15 are diagnosed each year with this invariably fatal cancer.

A residential development planned for the Ascon-Nesi toxic site in Southeast Huntington Beach won’t happen, according to a representative of nine companies responsible for cleaning up the property. Instead, the land will be developed for recreational use or as open space with some small neighborhood stores, said Mary Adams Urashima, who represents the companies and Ascon owner Cannery Hamilton LLC. Urashima made the announcement during a town hall meeting Wednesday night in Huntington Beach, where a crowd of about 60 residents and community leaders assembled to learn about plans for the property that has been a controversial issue in the city for more than a decade.

It has become something of an urban legend: Cleanup of the Ascon toxic waste dump is about to begin. City leaders tell us that the testing and exploratory work is done and that the actual cleanup of the site will begin next month. Deja vu, anyone? Although cleanup of the site that was a functioning landfill for five decades has been talked about for years, current work is far more progressive than ever before. Seven major oil companies have agreed -- and one is being forced -- to pay for the cleanup of the Ascon toxic dump, where they unloaded contaminants for years.

A residential development planned for the Ascon-Nesi toxic site in Southeast Huntington Beach won't happen, according to a representative of nine companies responsible for cleaning up the property. Instead, the land will be developed for recreational use or as open space with some small neighborhood stores, said Mary Adams Urashima, who represents the companies and Ascon owner Cannery Hamilton LLC. Urashima made the announcement during a town hall meeting Nov. 15 in Huntington Beach, where a crowd of about 60 residents and community leaders assembled to learn about plans for the property — a controversial issue in the city for more than a decade.

I attended the Scoping meeting on April 24 about the proposed clean up of the Ascon landfill site. I was very dismayed at how few residents attended. The Department of Toxic Substances Control presented information about what cleanup is possible at the site and how the site affects all of us in southeast Huntington Beach and the greater area as well. It is important that each of us show those in control that we care about the air we breathe, the soil beneath us and the water we drink.

Several weeks ago, I wrote about Machelle Murray, a local mom who is struggling to find answers about her insurance coverage as she battles cancer. The column prompted an outpouring of advice, support and even money for Murray. It also brought several emails about something Murray referenced in my interview with her — the fact that she wondered if the infamous Ascon oil waste dump, located near her south Huntington Beach neighborhood, may have played a part in what seems like an inordinate amount of cancer cases in the area (which several readers over the years have written me about)

Officials monitored rainfall levels at the Ascon Landfill Site this week but said there was no chance that rainwater from the site could overflow into the streets and neighborhoods. "There is no danger of any water leaking out of the site," said Unit Chief Greg Holmes, who is overseeing the cleanup at 21641 Magnolia St. Rainwater threatened to escape the 38-acre landfill in 2005. The berms that surround the lagoons were bolstered that year as part of an emergency repair when rainwater threatened to spill into the streets, according to the Independent's archives.

Officials have taken out about 9,200 tons of hazardous waste and toxic sludge from the city's defunct landfill as the interim removal gains momentum. The state Department of Toxic Substances Control began removing waste from the Ascon Landfill Site on Aug. 4 as an intermediary measure before the site's final cleanup. The project, which is expected to remove about 70,000 cubic yards of waste will help determine the extent of the final clean up. The 38-acre landfill at 21641 Magnolia St. was used to store waste and construction debris from 1938 to 1984.

When Ann Johnson moved into her house on Regatta Drive behind Magnolia Street near Hamilton Avenue, the Ascon Landfill was still the dumping ground for construction debris, and industrial and oil wastes. Across the street, Edison High School was just a field, and adjacent Edison Park was another landfill. In 1964, living next to the Ascon Landfill wasn't a concern. "It's always been there," Johnson said. The 38-acre landfill at 21641 Magnolia St. was used to store waste and construction debris from 1938 to 1984.

The Ascon landfill site in southeast Huntington Beach may at last start a long-promised cleanup by the end of the year, but it won’t be quick. Even in one of the lesser cleanup scenarios, it would take years, officials said. For the first time in more than a year, representatives of the companies responsible for cleaning up the 38 acres of land at Magnolia Street and Hamilton Avenue came to a City Council study session to give council members and residents a look at their plans.

A residential development planned for the Ascon-Nesi toxic site in Southeast Huntington Beach won't happen, according to a representative of nine companies responsible for cleaning up the property. Instead, the land will be developed for recreational use or as open space with some small neighborhood stores, said Mary Adams Urashima, who represents the companies and Ascon owner Cannery Hamilton LLC. Urashima made the announcement during a town hall meeting Nov. 15 in Huntington Beach, where a crowd of about 60 residents and community leaders assembled to learn about plans for the property — a controversial issue in the city for more than a decade.

A residential development planned for the Ascon-Nesi toxic site in Southeast Huntington Beach won’t happen, according to a representative of nine companies responsible for cleaning up the property. Instead, the land will be developed for recreational use or as open space with some small neighborhood stores, said Mary Adams Urashima, who represents the companies and Ascon owner Cannery Hamilton LLC. Urashima made the announcement during a town hall meeting Wednesday night in Huntington Beach, where a crowd of about 60 residents and community leaders assembled to learn about plans for the property that has been a controversial issue in the city for more than a decade.