Dozens of firms illegally dump toxics in Mexico.

Dozens of firms illegally dump toxics in Mexico

Dozens of L.A. manufacturing firms are involved in illegally transporting and dumping hazardous waste materials in Mexico to get around U.S., state, and county environmental laws, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

"We have found lots of companies in L.A. that are misidentifying waste products and illegally transporting them to Mexico, where they are often disposed of illegally," Deputy District Attorney Bill Carter said.

"There are dozens of companies we have identified in L.A. who are operating in this manner in violation of both Mexican and U.S. laws," said Carter.

A six-year veteran of the county's environmental war on toxic wastes, Carter is in charge of 10 deputy district attorneys and 10 "DA investigators" who are part of a multi-agency, binational strike force investigating the allegations.

According to Carter and other sources close to the investigation, the problem involves numerous manufacturing firms in Orange County and San Diego as well. However, he declined to mention any of firms by name, saying that to do so would jeopardize ongoing investigations.

In addition to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office, the strike force in L.A. is comprised of officers from the California Highway Patrol; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the state, county, and city health departments; and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

On the Mexican side of the border it is comprised, he said, of Baja California State Judicial Police and officials from Mexico's equivalent of the EPA in the United States - the federal Secretariat of Ecology and Urban Development, known by the acronym SEDUE.

"I can't fault manufacturers here for trying to find the cheapest and most efficient way of handling, treating, and disposing of their waste streams or by-products," he said. "They are in the business of making money, and, unfortunately, there are few low-cost alternatives out there of disposing of hazardous materials.

"However, the manufacturers should not try to avoid U.S. regulations by sending them into Mexico. It's clear that the Mexican government wants to pursue a more aggressive enforcement posture down there" to help clean up their environment and avoid becoming a dumping ground for wastes products from the United States, he said.

In one case Carter's office is currently prosecuting, the toxic materials were sold to a Mexican national in Tijuana who, in partnership with an Orange County resident, promised to dispose of them legally by selling them as "viable products" in Mexico, he said.

But the products had no commercial value and were instead stored in metal drums at a private home in Tijuana in violation of tough new Mexican laws modeled after those on the books in the U.S.

"I think this is a widespread problem," he said. "certain people in Mexico say they can take these hazardous wastes and sell them to customers or convert them into commercial products. But it can't be done that way.

"Hazardous wastes have to be manifested, documented, and sent to a proper located for disposal," he said.