SCWW: Grand Jury indictment list
71 counts of criminal offenses

August 21, 2015
Santa Paula News

South Palm Yard in Santa Paula was used for illegal storage for chemicals to hide them from county inspectors according to the Grand Jury that indicted Santa Clara Waste Water, Green Compass and nine company officials.

The 29-page indictment and 15 search warrants were unsealed Wednesday by Superior Court Judge David Hirsch detailing an alleged trail of lawbreaking that led up to and included the November 18 explosions and fire at SCWW, located west of Santa Paula.

The indictment lists 71 counts of various criminal offenses, including conspiracy to commit a crime, disposal of  hazardous waste, recklessly handling hazardous waste, known failure to warn of serious concealed danger and causing impairment to an employee’s body and causing great bodily injury by emitting an air contaminant. 

Other charges lodged against SCWW-Green Compass personnel include suspicion of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, withholding information regarding a substantial danger to public safety and filing a false or forged instrument specifically regarding hazardous waste.

According to District Attorney Greg Totten, his office, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, the Ventura County Environmental Health Agency and the Ventura County Fire Department, investigated the case. 

Named in the indictments are nine managers and executives: per the company’s website Douglas Edwards is Board Chairman; Vice President Charles Mundy; Operations Manager Mark Avila; Vice President Dean Poe; Assistant General Manager Marlene Faltemier; General Manager Brock Gustin Baker; CEO William Mitzel; Kenneth Griffin, a supervisor; and David Wirsing, who appears to have worked as a general manager, were arrested in two sweeps and released on bail. Some of those arrested face a handful of charges while others are suspected of multiple counts. 

More than half of the allegations—a combination of felonies and misdemeanors—stem from the explosion, with the others related to practices, reporting and falsifying documents to conceal hazardous waste. The indictment names seven workers that allegedly suffered bodily impairment as well as more than a dozen people including rescue personnel that were exposed to air contaminants; one lawsuit by a SCWW worker has been filed against the company seeking damages for injuries.

The indictment shows that 67 witnesses were called to testify, including three Santa Paula Firefighters that were seriously injured. The firefighters were the first to respond to the 3:45 a.m. incident that involved the explosion of 1,000 gallons of unknown chemicals from the rear of a pumper truck at the facility, located at 815 Mission Rock Road.

First responders that questioned if  hazardous materials were involved in the incident—which injured two men, one critically—were assured the area was safe. But within hours—when firefighters’ boots spontaneously combusted and a toxic cloud that formed over the plant ignited and set off containers of flammable chemicals—there was a mass evacuation and local hospitals were treating about 50 people for chemical exposure. 

The SPFD Firefighters are still off work recovering from their exposure injuries. Santa Paula and Ventura County fire lost engines with a combined replacement value of more than $1 million. 

The indictment notes that on or about July 1, 2014 SCWW entered into a lease with the city for a yard located on South Palm Avenue “with the express provision that  the company would not ‘use, generate, store or dispose of any hazardous material’ on or about the leased yard.”

During the same time the company “procured chemicals in excess of the allowable quantities,” reported to the state in their Hazardous Materials Business Plan for the Mission Rock Road facility.

In late September 2014 company officials were notified that county environmental health had a November 5 inspection scheduled but “wants to come by next week” and “we just have a few things to do.” 

Allegedly what needed to be done was move the chemicals from the plant to the Santa Paula yard, which occurred sometime between late September and November 5, according to a later text from an employee at night.  

On November 6 a SCWW employee sent a text message to another stating, “Perfect. I still have a box of gc trans. I’ll pick them up after I move my bio-hazard at the trans yard. New yard works well for overstock of chemicals on important days. Lol!”

Within days of the explosions DA investigators and Ventura County Sheriff’s served warrants at the Palm Avenue yard where some chemicals remained.

Shortly after the explosion Nils and Jenny Castillo, owners of Castillo Motorsports adjacent to SCWW, said they had contacted county government officials numerous times for more than a year regarding their concerns.

The Castillos’ had complained of fumes, noise and ever increasing—which had reached “horrendous” levels—of night traffic using the facility outside of normal business hours.

The couple emailed and called county planning repeatedly only to be told that SCWW was abiding by its permit.

Santa Clara Waste Water’s permit allowed operations between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. But the permit also expanded operating hours as necessary to meet heavy demand or for emergencies.

Last November the owner of another Mission Rock business who asked that his name not be used said that judging from SCWW’s night traffic, “There’s either a tremendous demand or an awful lot of emergencies... “

In a post on a news story about the arrests, Oxnard resident Steven Nash, a city planning commissioner, questioned the use of the 12-mile pipeline from SCWW to the Oxnard wastewater plant where the company sent its wastewater. Oxnard had warned SCWW several times of high levels of radiation being found in the wastewater. 

If SCWW was sending wastewater at night to the Oxnard plant, wrote Nash, it was less likely to be batch tested. 

Oxnard turned off the intake valve for the SCWW pipeline following the explosion.





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