SCWW: Arraignment continued for
seven defendants in chemical explosion
August 26, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
The seven officials of Santa Clara Waste Water Co. had their arraignments continued Friday to Sept. 24 after defense lawyers complained they had not received discovery materials from what one attorney said was uncooperative prosecutors.
Nine managers in all were arrested in recent weeks on various felonies and misdemeanors that allegedly led up to and contributed to the November 18 explosions and fires at Santa Clara Waste Water located west of Santa Paula. The incident injured dozens of people including three Santa Paula Firefighters that have still not returned to work after they suffered injuries from inhaling toxic chemicals.
Barry Groveman, a former LA City Attorney and DA who specializes in environmental cases is representing SCWW and its connected Green Compass as well as Douglas Edwards, the retired CEO and chairman of the board and CEO William Mitzel.
During the August 21 hearing Groveman said defense attorneys have yet to examine evidence as the District Attorney “has been unwilling to give us warrants and other material,” that is delaying the preparation of the defense’s case.
Local newspapers he added, have received such documents.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Chris Harman handed out the indictments to Edwards, Charles Mundy, vice president of environmental safety for the company; Operations Manager Mark Avila; Vice President Dean Poe; Assistant General Manager Marlene Faltemier; General Manager Brock Gustin Baker and Kenneth Griffin, a supervisor.
CEO William Mitzel and manager David Wirsing are scheduled to be arraigned next week but it is likely their hearings will also be continued.
Prosecutor Karen Wold told Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Hirsch there is a concern that two attorneys are representing “multiple clients” including witnesses and victims.
She noted that the court unsealed the warrants and the media obtained the documents from the court and not prosecutors.
In addition, the District Attorney’s Office is not required to provide materials to individual defendants until they are represented by their attorney of record.
Hirsch said he would consider the matter of attorneys raised by Wold.
The case stems from the November incident, when the rear of a vacuum truck exploded at the company’s facility at 815 Mission Rock Road spewing about 1,000-gallons of chemicals for hundreds of feet, with the bulk of the liquid in a shallow cement pond at the facility.
Following the 3:45 a.m. incident first on scene Santa Paula Firefighters—who responded as mutual aid—were assured by SCWW employees that the liquid that exploded, with what a witness later said was a large blue flash, was not hazardous. Two men were injured during the explosion, one critically that firefighters had to walk through the solution to reach. Finally, someone told firefighters the substance on the ground “could possibly be hazardous chemicals.”
As the substance dried, spontaneous ignition of workers’ boots was reported and when the SPFD crew tried to move the engine its rear tires ignited filling the cab with what is believed to be toxic smoke.
Within hours a toxic cloud that formed above the facility ignited, causing a blaze that consumed totes of chemicals on the ground and caused more explosions, a fire that had to burn itself out due to concerns of the unknown substances involved.
A mile-radius was evacuated including two schools, a perimeter later reduced to a half-mile. Those living and working within the Mission Rock Road area were not allowed to return for days and then were cautioned that they had to be ready to evacuate again at a moment’s notice.
Santa Paula’s three firefighters remain on leave while being treated for respiratory aliments and other ailments believed to be related to chemical exposure.
SCWW-Green Compass company officials were arrested and indicted earlier this month after a Ventura County grand jury heard the testimony of 67 witnesses over three weeks. Hirsch unsealed the grand jury indictments August 19.
The 29-page 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.
The indictment alleges seven workers suffered bodily impairment and more than a dozen people, including rescue personnel, were exposed to air contaminants.
Hirsch also unsealed 15 search warrants that contained details about the explosion at the Santa Clara Waste Water as well as business practices at the plant, which opened in 1959 and has been under present ownership for about 10 years.
According to one warrant—there are more than 300 pages of investigative documents—the vacuum truck had mixed various toxic chemicals with sewage waste, which caused the explosion preceded by a loud hissing sound.
The clean up was in anticipation of an inspection, wrote District Attorney investigator Jeff Barry, and the vacuum truck being used to “suck up” material from totes was not designed to store or mix chemicals.
When the truck exploded some employees were hit by shrapnel and hazardous waste “was strewn about” the facility.
Investigators said the totes contained more than 250 gallons of sodium chlorite, an oxidizer that could become explosive when mixed with organic material. The sodium chlorite, noted Barry, had not been reported to officials per law.
“The first responders were never told they were exposed to Sodium Chlorite or Chlorine Dioxide gas,” Barry wrote in the warrant summary. “Many people were injured or treated at local hospitals resulting from exposure to hazardous waste,” including hospital personnel that treated the approximately 50 people, including Highway 126 commuters that came in contact with air contaminates.
Investigators also allege SCWW personnel directed employees to hide chemicals from Ventura County Environmental Health inspectors by transporting the chemicals—and radioactive hazardous waste—to property the company leased from the city on Palm Avenue.
