Chemical dumps in ocean off Southern California

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During the 20th century, a large amount of chemical waste was dumped into the Pacific Ocean off of Southern California. Dumped materials include DDT, WW II munitions, radioactive waste, PCBs, petroleum products, and sulfuric acid.

Contents

The chemical waste was dumped in at least 14 offshore locations, ranging from the Channel Islands in the north, to the shores off Ensenada, Mexico in the south.

The Environmental Protection Agency has designated one of the offshore sites as a subunit of the Montrose Chemical Superfund site. After studying the offshore site, the EPA is planning is to leave the waste in place, and cover it with a layer of sediment.

History

Dumping in the mid-20th century

From the 1930s until the early 1970s, multiple government agencies (including the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) approved ocean disposal of domestic, industrial, and military waste at 14 deep-water sites off the coast of Southern California. Waste disposed included refinery wastes, filter cakes and oil drilling wastes, chemical wastes, refuse and garbage, military explosives and radioactive wastes. [1]

From 1946 to 1970, over 56,000 barrels of radioactive waste were dumped into the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to a 1999 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The barrels were dumped at sites ranging from Alaska to Southern California. [2]

Montrose Chemical Corporation manufactured DDT during the years 1947 to 1983 at its plant near Torrance, California. The plant discharged wastewater containing the now-banned pesticide into Los Angeles sewers that emptied into the Pacific Ocean off White Point on the Palos Verdes Shelf. The manufacturing process resulted in groundwater and surface soil contamination on and near the Montrose plant property. Estimates of discharged DDT range from 800 to 1000 tons, between the late 1950s and the early 1970s.

Montrose, in addition to dumping DDT, also dumped sulfuric acid, which was a byproduct of the DDT manufacturing process. The acid was transported to the dump sites on barges operated by California Salvage Company. [3] The Montrose Corporation site, consisting of 13 acres (5.3 ha), is now an EPA Superfund site.

Other industries also discharged PCBs into the Los Angeles sewer system that ended up on the Palos Verdes Shelf. [4] The Palos Verdes Shelf is located off the coast of Palos Verdes (between Point Fermin and Point Vicente) and covers 43 square kilometers (17 square miles). [5]

Not all DDT waste was in the form of barrels. California Salvage, a company that provided waste disposal services during the 1960s, transported DDT on barges to "dumping site 2" (about halfway between Palos Verdes and Santa Catalina island) and dumped it directly into the ocean, as a liquid. Analysis by the EPA suggests that most of the DDT measured in the Southern California waters is from the barge disposal, rather than the barrels. [1] [6] [7]

Military munitions, including Hedgehogs, Mark 9 depth charges, anti-submarine weapons and smoke devices, were found on the ocean floor. These WW II munitions were commonly disposed of in the ocean before the 1970s. [8] [7]

The EPA concluded that over 3 million tons of petroleum products were dumped in the Southern California waste sites, including refinery wastes, filter cakes and oil drilling wastes. [2]

Research and remediation

In 1973, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) published a report that identified 14 waste dump sites off the Southern California coast. [6] [9]

Starting in 1975, contaminated waste disposal in the San Pedro Channel was prohibited. Thereafter, uncontaminated dredge materials continued to be disposed of at approved EPA sites in the San Pedro Channel. [1]

Since 1985, fish consumption advisories and health warnings have been posted in Southern California because of elevated DDT and PCB levels. Bottom-feeding fish are particularly at risk for high contamination levels. Consumption of white croaker, which has the highest contamination levels, should be avoided. Other bottom-feeding fish, including kelp bass, rockfish, and sculpin, are also highly contaminated. [10] As a part of the Superfund project, the EPA is looking to reinforce the commercial and recreational fishing ban on white croaker. [11]

In October 1989, the former Montrose Chemical facility in Torrance was added to the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List. [12] The offshore Palos Verdes Shelf dumping site is an "Operable Unit" of that Montrose Chemical Superfund Site. [4] [1]

In 1990, the United States and California filed lawsuits against several companies that had industrial facilities near the Palos Verdes peninsula, citing damages to the nearby marine environment. The defendants included Montrose Chemical, Imperial Chemical Industries, Rhône-Poulenc, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In December 2000, Montrose Chemical and three other corporations settled their lawsuits for a total between $73 and $77 million. When combined with prior lawsuits, this brought the total up to $140 million to fund the restoration of the Palos Verdes Shelf marine environment. [13] [14] [15]

Until as recently as 2007, bald eagles on Santa Catalina Island were unable to reproduce because the DDT caused their eggshells to become too thin and to break open before the eagle was fully developed. [16] California sea lions have high levels of DDT and a high rate of cancer which is rare in wild animals. [17]

In 2017, after studying various approaches to remediation for the Palos Verdes Shelf, the EPA decided to leave the waste in place, and cover it with a layer of sediment. [18]

In 2020, the US Corps of Army Engineers published a study outlining a plan to dredge sediment from Queens Gate Channel (a deep water passage leading into the of Port of Long Beach) and deposit it over the Palos Verdes Shelf. [5]

In early 2021, a survey of the ocean floor using sonar uncovered more than 25,000 barrel-like objects on the sea floor that possibly contained DDT and other toxic chemicals. [7] [19] [20] The mission included a team of 31 scientists and engineers, led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [21]

In 2023, an expedition led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography re-surveyed the area, and used high-resolution photography. They confirmed the large number of barrels, and the photography revealed a large number of munitions on the ocean floor. [7]

In 2024, a team of scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara discovered evidence low-level radioactive waste was dumped in the ocean during the 1960s. The material was probably dumped by California Salvage, a now-defunct company that also dumped DDT in the ocean during the 1960s. [2] [3]

Future plans

As of 2024, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are actively working on remediation of the Montrose site (in Torrance) and the Palos Verdes Shelf.

None of the 14 numbered offshore locations in the 1973 SCCWRP map (see map below) have been designated as operable units of the EPA's Montrose Superfund site, and hence are not subject to remediation efforts as of 2024. However, the EPA is performing initial studies on "site 2" from the 1973 SCCWRP map. [1]

Whether additional waste will be discovered in the ocean is an open question. According to environmental scientist Mark Gold from the Natural Resources Defense Council, “[t]he more we look, the more we find, and every new bit of information seems to be scarier than the last... This has shown just how egregious and harmful the dumping has been off our nation’s coasts, and that we have no idea how big of an issue and how big of a problem this is nationally.” [2] [22]

Locations

The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) published a report in March 1973 that identified 14 waste dump sites off the Southern California coast. The SCCWRP map does not include the Palos Verdes Shelf site. [6] [9]

The map below shows 13 of the 14 dump sites from the 1973 SCCWRP map; the missing fourteenth site is off the southern edge of the map, located at 31.847120N 118.57122W, off the coast of Mexico. The map below uses the same site numbering as the 1973 SCCWRP map. [1]

The map below includes two sites which are not included in the 1973 map: the Palos Verdes Shelf site, and the Montrose Chemical facility in Torrance.

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Montrose Chemical
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Palos Verdes Shelf
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Chemical dump sites off Southern California shore

List of dumped chemicals and waste

Chemicals and other waste that have been documented in waste sites off the Southern California shore include:

See also

Related Research Articles

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Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and gravel, masonry and concrete, scrap metal, oil, solvents, chemicals, scrap lumber, even vegetable matter from restaurants. Industrial waste may be solid, semi-solid or liquid in form. It may be hazardous waste or non-hazardous waste. Industrial waste may pollute the nearby soil or adjacent water bodies, and can contaminate groundwater, lakes, streams, rivers or coastal waters. Industrial waste is often mixed into municipal waste, making accurate assessments difficult. An estimate for the US goes as high as 7.6 billion tons of industrial waste produced annually, as of 2017. Most countries have enacted legislation to deal with the problem of industrial waste, but strictness and compliance regimes vary. Enforcement is always an issue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toxic waste</span> Any unwanted material which can cause harm

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superfund</span> US federal program to investigate / clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972</span> American environmental legislation

Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (MPRSA) or Ocean Dumping Act is one of several key environmental laws passed by the US Congress in 1972. The Act has two essential aims: to regulate intentional ocean disposal of materials, and to authorize any related research. While the MPRSA regulates the ocean dumping of waste and provides for a research program on ocean dumping, it also provides for the designation and regulation of marine sanctuaries. The act regulates the ocean dumping of all material beyond the territorial limit and prevents or strictly limits dumping material that "would adversely affect human health, welfare, or amenities, or the marine environment, ecological systems, or economic potentialities". The MPRSA authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate ocean dumping of materials including, but not limited to, industrial waste, sewage sludge, biological agents, radioactive agents, NBC, garbage, chemicals, and biological and laboratory, as well as other wastes, into the territorial waters of the United States through a permit program. The EPA can issue permits for dumping of materials other than dredge spoils if the agency determines, through a full public notice and process, that the discharge will not unreasonably degrade or endanger human health or welfare or the marine environment. The law also has provisions related to creating marine sanctuaries, conducting ocean disposal research and monitoring coastal water quality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxey Flats</span> Radioactive waste dump site in Kentucky

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The Montrose Chemical Corporation of California was a chemical corporation that was the largest producer of the insecticide DDT in the United States from 1947 until it stopped production in 1982. Its improper disposal of chemical waste from DDT production resulted in serious environmental damage to the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles, and its former main plant in Harbor Gateway South area of Los Angeles near Torrance, California has been designated as a Superfund site by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waste</span> Unwanted or unusable materials

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shpack Landfill</span> Hazardous waste site in Massachusetts

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Southern California Ocean Disposal Site #2 Investigation". www.epa.gov. 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "It's not just toxic chemicals. Radioactive waste was also dumped off Los Angeles coast". Los Angeles Times. 2024-02-21. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  3. 1 2 3 "Disentangling the History of Deep Ocean Disposal for DDT and Other Industrial Waste Off Southern California", Jacob T. Schmidt, et al Environ. Sci. Technol. 2024, February 21, 2024 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c08575
  4. 1 2 3 "Cleaning Up the Palos Verdes Shelf | Region 9: Superfund | US EPA". 19january2017snapshot.epa.gov. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  5. 1 2 "Final Assessment for Borrow Site Dredging and Transportation, Palos Verdes Shelf Capping Demonstration Project" (PDF). US Army Corps of Engineers. August 2000. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "History of DDT ocean dumping off L.A. coast even worse than expected, EPA finds". Los Angeles Times. 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "WWII-Era Munitions Found Under Water in Survey of Southern California Industrial Waste Dump Site" Associated Press Jan. 5, 2024, Associated Press https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-01-05/thousands-of-wwii-era-munitions-found-under-water-in-survey-of-southern-california-dump-site
  8. ↑ "Massive dumping ground of WWII-era munitions discovered off Los Angeles coast". Los Angeles Times. 2024-01-05. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  9. 1 2 "The Ecology of the Southern California Bight: Implications for Water Quality Management", John D, Isaacs et al, 14 March 1973, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, http://ftp.sccwrp.org/pub/download/DOCUMENTS/TechnicalReports/010_3yrRptEcoImplicationsWQmgt.pdf
  10. ↑ "Region 9: Cleaning up the Palos Verdes Shelf". US Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on February 18, 2004. Retrieved 23 February 2024.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  11. ↑ "Off Shore DDT". www.palosverdes.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  12. ↑ "MONTROSE CHEMICAL CORP. Site Profile". cumulis.epa.gov. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  13. ↑ Mazza, Sandy (2015-12-20). "Harbor Gateway Superfund site cleanup on hold". Daily Breeze. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  14. ↑ Jergler, Don (2020-04-07). "California Supreme Court Ruling Will Enable Montrose to Tap Excess Policies". Insurance Journal. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  15. ↑ "Montrose Chemical Corp. Agrees to $77M in Consent Decrees in 31-Year Lawsuit Over DDT Pollution". The Recorder. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  16. ↑ Cone, Marla (March 13, 2013). "The Mystery of the Vanishing DDT in the Ocean Near Los Angeles". Scientific American .
  17. ↑ "'Overwhelming': Scientists Confirm Massive DDT Dumping Ground On Ocean Floor Between Long Beach, Catalina Island". CBS LA. 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  18. ↑ "Cleaning Up the Palos Verdes Shelf: Summary of Activities | Region 9: Superfund | US EPA" . Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  19. ↑ "Stunning DDT dump site off L.A. coast much bigger than scientists expected". Los Angeles Times. 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  20. ↑ Cantú, Aaron Miguel (2021-04-30). "California's legacy of DDT waste: underwater dump site uncovers a toxic history". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  21. ↑ Murphy, Heather (2021-04-28). "25,000 Barrels Possibly Laced With DDT Are Found Off California Coast". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  22. ↑ "DDT – A Never Ending Story" Mark Gold, California Ocean Protection Council, https://www.opc.ca.gov/2022/07/ddt/#more-17550
  23. ↑ "WWII-Era Munitions Found Under Water in Survey of Southern California Industrial Waste Dump Site", US News (from Associated Press) Jan. 5, 2024 https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-01-05/thousands-of-wwii-era-munitions-found-under-water-in-survey-of-southern-california-dump-site
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