Legislators Don't Want to Know the Truth about ADEQ

When Steve Brittle of DWA tried to tell the state's legislators the real truth about ADEQ, the things the State Audit General's Office conveniently missed or didn't want to find, his testimony was cut short.

Regarding hazardous waste and Superfund sites in the state: When the 19th Avenue Landfill/Superfund Site was excavated, the ADEQ dug up barrels of hazardous waste and then simply reburied them there. When this reburying came to light, the agency issued a statement that it would be too risky to go back and dig them back up and properly dispose of them.

Agency admits it does not have enough inspectors for oversight of landfills, and the agency do need more money from tipping fees to do its job right, but the legislature should mandate inspections and changes to policy.

AIR: More regarding the ADEQ's pattern of ignoring citizens' complaints and never responding -

If there is any serious air quality violation, there is still no way to call and even leave a message at night, on weekends, or holidays. DWA has filed two civil rights complaints with the EPA's Title VI civil rights departments about this. One of these had to do with an incident in Hayden. DWA members in Hayden called because some chemical was raining out of the sky, presumably caused by an upset condition at the ASARCO smelter. The chemical rain ate holes in people's clothes, burned their skin, and even ate the paint off of cars. When Hayden residents called ADEQ during normal business hours, they were told that no one could take their complaint.

The Cypress Sierrita facility near Green Valley had an air permit that expired in 1985. ADEQ never issued a newer permit for many years. In the late 1990s, the ADEQ still had not issued the new permit, and EPA, after receiving citizen complaints, brought an enforcement action. In Arizona, if a facility has an existing air permit and has filed an application for a new one, the facility gets to operate using the conditions of the old permit until a new one is issued. Of course, as air pollution regulations tighten, and as technology improvements forces better processes and controls on air pollution emissions, facilities that would rather pollute love it when ADEQ doesn't issue a newer air permit. Seems like the ADEQ does this far too often despite the large budget of the air quality department.

Citizens in Randolph, an environmental justice community, complained many times about the Sunbelt refinery. It was releasing large amounts of chemicals into the air at night, making them ill. The ADEQ was touting how environmentally friendly this Sunbelt refinery was as people began to question the air permit issued to the Maricopa Refinery Company for its Mobile facility. (Mobile is another environmental justice community.) After making these assertions about how wonderful the Sunbelt refinery, the truth came out, there was a criminal enforcement action that resulted in the refinery closing, and the citizens of Randolph filed a civil rights complaint against ADEQ with the EPA, still unresolved.

DWA started getting calls about a facility outside Kingman, Union Nature. This facility claimed it could turn used tires into heat and byproducts, with no air emissions after applying for an air pollution permit from ADEQ. The permit engineer who visited the facility wrote a memo that she saw where the air pollution would come out, but after internal pressure from ADEQ, the facility was allowed to operate. The fumes were so bad that people driving by on the interstate highway could smell them! When DWA requested the permit file, the ADEQ withheld them until after it could dispatch staff to close the facility down.

DWA discovered the Seaport Petroleum plant in west Phoenix while conducting its citizen suit enforcement of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act. Seaport was originally issued an air permit from the county air agency, but after a few years, ADEQ correctly claimed jurisdiction, as the facility was a type of refinery. Then the ADEQ forgot about the facility, which was still operating on its expired county permit when DWA asked for its file at the ADEQ air quality department. The agency refused to show DWA any of the file, and went out and started the permitting of the facility, years too late.

The ADEQ had issued a permit for Universal Propulsion to burn perchlorate wastes at its facility, and the facility had done so for decades. The burning of these wastes puts an enormous cloud of hydrochloric acid and other toxics into the air - see http://www.fastq.com/~dwaz/phxbombp.html, which forces local citizens to shelter in place like a terrorist attack had just occurred. But when asked at a public meeting, Air Quality Director Nancy Wrona claimed she never had ADEQ monitor or sample air from the burning of these perchlorate wastes, citing a lack of resources. But ADEQ has the HART team, which has the equipment to sample the air and analyze the constituents. Wrona allowed another burn after these resources were pointed out, but still did not monitor.

In Wellton, concerned citizens made several calls to ADEQ about a portable concrete batch plant that has been built in Wellton, and were told that no one at the ADEQ's air quality department knows who or what facility it might be or if facility even has a permit. The citizens were told that the concrete batch plant might be a portable, but the agency, which issues these permits, just didn't know. Considering the fact that under state law it would be illegal to build it before getting a permit, the insistence from the agency that an inspector would not come out to look at it and find out it outrageous. Not that it would make much difference. When Yuma citizens call to complain about local agricultural burning to clear fields - diesel fuel is allegedly sprayed first and then the fields are set on fire - they are told that inspector won't go out because that is just the way these farmers have been doing it, and that despite the laws, nothing will change. Yuma is on the verge of being designated non-attainment for PM 10 - no wonder.

When DWA reviewed air permit files at the ADEQ regarding facilities in the Kingman Industrial Park in the mid-90's, ADEQ had "forgotten" to get any annual emissions reports from them. When pressed to get these reports, ADEQ staff first tried to tell DWA researchers that the facilities were closed. Northstar Steel was fined by ADEQ for being a major source and just having a minor source permit, but ADEQ issued the permit as such despite the warnings of the public in their comments on the draft permit. Other competitors, like Birmingham Steel, which would have been near Tonopah, admitted they'd be a major source.

The audit pointed to improvements in air quality in several areas of the state, but this is bogus. The improvements have more to do with some smelters shutting down.

Looking at the Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) file for Universal Propulsion, DWA researchers found a memo in the stating that due to poor hazardous waste handling at the facility, it was not likely that it could get an APP. One year later, the APP issued to the facility doesn't even address perchlorates. Once severe perchlorate contamination was found at the site, there was still no modification to APP, and no monitoring required under APP program for perchlorate.

It is still very difficult to access public records at the agency.