9 years after Santa Clara Waste Water plant explosion, new owner hopes to tear it down

Nearly a decade after an explosion at a treatment plant near Santa Paula, the new owner is expected to tear down and remove what remains of the Santa Clara Waste Water Co.

The now-defunct plant on Mission Rock Road shuttered after a predawn blast shook the rural community on Nov. 18, 2014. A wastewater vacuum truck exploded after chemicals mixed, and sodium chlorite on the ground that dried and ignited was inhaled by those at the scene.

Dozens of first responders, hospital staff and employees were injured, schools and nearby areas evacuated, and other residents told to stay indoors and close all windows. Nine company officials were later indicted on various charges, including conspiracy to commit a crime and the disposal of hazardous waste. All pleaded guilty or no contest.

Since then, efforts to reopen the site have drawn strong community opposition from local residents and officials. Earlier this year, the county started a process to revoke the site's decades-old permit suspended since the explosion. In late March, the board of supervisors unanimously agreed.

County planning officials took another step last week, signing off on a new owner's plan to tear down and remove tanks and other equipment left on the property. Senior planner Franca Rosengren approved the clearance needed to move forward with the work, she said. A demolition permit has also been issued.

Santa Paula Mayor Leslie Cornejo had urged supervisors to revoke the permit, calling it the right thing for residents, the region and the property that sits a half-mile from the Santa Clara River.

"We have suffered financial, physical and emotional damage, and we have never been made whole," Cornejo said. "We have exercised every legal option that we could afford. We just are done with this."

Property gets a new owner

Last summer, Fontana-based RI-NU Services withdrew its application for a permit to operate the plant. A foreclosure on the property meant the owner, Santa Clara Waste Water, would lose it, the applicant said at the time.

Planning officials ordered all materials and equipment be removed from the plant, and spoke to the company about voluntarily terminating the permit to operate a treatment plant. When those efforts stalled, county officials began the process to revoke the permit. They cited recurring violations, the inability to use a wastewater pipeline since the explosion and the abandonment of the facility, saying there were ample grounds to do so.

A few weeks before the March hearing on the matter, the planning department was notified the property had transferred to a new owner. After getting access to the site, that owner applied for permission to remove items left on the site. With last week's approvals, the owner now has all the sign offs needed to start removing the items from the site.

The new owner, who identified himself as Tim Finnigan at the supervisors meeting last month, told officials he is looking at the property for contractor storage yards.

"There's not going to be a sewer plant going back in there," Finnigan said. "That page has turned."

Permit dates back to 1950s

Mary Ann Krause, a local resident and part of a coalition of organizations and individuals opposed to the plant's reopening, called the permit revocation encouraging.

“It was such a hazard for the community and for the public in general,” she said. “It just seemed like we had to make sure that it never reopened.”

The permit dates back to the 1950s when Shell Oil Company got approval for a disposal facility for oilfield wastewater. Soon after, the permit transferred to Santa Clara Waste Water. The operation piped wastewater to an Oxnard treatment facility.

After the explosion, county officials suspended the permit. A discharge permit that allowed nonhazardous waste to go to the Oxnard facility also was suspended and later expired.

One violation still remains, Rosengren said. It is related to an unapproved expansion of the wastewater facility, but once the equipment and other items are removed, it is expected to be resolved. After everything is removed, the owner likely could move forward with permitting required for his plans for the site.

Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Santa Clara Waste Water plant to be removed by new owner