STATE CLEANUP BEING PLANNED AT SALVAGE YARD PUBLIC COMMENTS INVITED.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

ROSAMOND - State officials are planning to spend $650,000 to clean up contaminated soil and waste slag at a defunct auto salvage yard in Rosamond.

The proposed cleanup is to dig up about 6,150 cubic yards of slag and soil contaminated with high levels of lead and arsenic and bury it on the property in a cell capped with asphalt, clay or concrete.

The state's Department of Toxic Substances Control is seeking public comment through Dec. 5 on their proposed cleanup method for S.R. Kilby, a 7.4-acre site at 2021 15th St. W.

A draft plan can be reviewed at the Wanda Kirk Library, 3611 West Rosamond Blvd. Public comments on the plan should be sent to Ruben Medina, DTSC project manager, 1515 Tollhouse Road, Clovis, CA 93611 or e-mailed to RMedina(at)dtsc.ca.gov.

During the cleanup, water will be sprayed during digging to reduce dust. The state also plans to cover the soil and slag with plastic sheeting to keep dust down until the contaminated material can be buried.

Soil samples would be collected from the areas that have been dug out to make sure the contaminated material is gone. The dug-out areas would be filled in with clean soil.

A deed restriction would be put on the property to ensure the material remains buried.

``The site will be monitored,'' said DTSC spokeswoman Jeanne Garcia.

After reviewing public comments, the department will make a decision as to whether to approve the cleanup plan or amend it. If approved, the cleanup would begin this winter.

From December 1982 through January 1983, a towing company leased a Quonset hut on the site for automotive repair and salvage operations. From 1987 to the present, the Quonset hut has been used to store scrap airplane parts, according to a site history compiled by the department.

Sometime before 1987, someone deposited slag along the entire western length of the site. The slag pile was 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep.

Samples taken in 1987 showed lead concentrations as high as 41,300 parts per million - more than 40 times the level at which state standards require cleanup - in the slag pile.

The state had the area fenced off and warning signs were posted. In November 1998, the DTSC ordered the property owner to investigate the extent of the contamination but no action was taken, according to state officials.

The state spent approximately $175,000 on soil testing in 2000 to determine the extent and location of the contamination.

The Kilby property is one of 34 sites in Rosamond and Mojave that came under the state's review as part of an investigation into a cluster of nine childhood cancer cases that occurred in Rosamond between 1975 and 1986.

No cause was ever identified for the cancer cluster, but the investigation revealed a number of sites contaminated by lead and other potentially cancer-causing chemicals.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com