Chemicals

Environmentalists claimed a court victory over Gov. George Deukmejian on Monday when a Superior Court judge ordered the state to consider whether Proposition 65 should cover as many as 200 additional chemicals that can cause cancer or birth defects. Judge Ronald B.

Firefighters and county health officials Friday discovered about 500 gallons of chemicals stored at a house next to Sunkist Elementary School, in an area not zoned for such a use, according to a city spokeswoman. A shed behind a house in the 300 block of Sunkist Street apparently had been used as a bottling plant for Med-Mar Metals, a company that produces metallic finishes, said Sheri Erlewine, a city spokeswoman. The company is owned by James Beatty; the house is owned by his father.

Ozone-destroying chemicals are declining in the atmosphere for the first time, according to researchers who say that means the ozone hole high above the Earth could start closing within 10 years. "A detectable signal for ozone recovery is expected around 2005 or 2010," said Stephen A. Montzka, a researcher in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration laboratory in Boulder, Colo., and one of eight coauthors of a study published today in the journal Science.

After receiving requests from about 65 companies for temporary exemptions from the city's ban on most uses of an ozone-depleting chemical, the Irvine City Council will consider turning the exemption process over to the city manager. All requests for exemptions to the ban on chlorofluorocarbons now must be approved by the City Council. The city's law on chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting substances went into effect July 1.

A 28-year-old man whose station wagon contained chemicals that police believe were intended for use in the manufacture of illegal drugs died in a head-on traffic collision in North Hills, officials said Wednesday. Joel M. Guinn of Thousand Oaks was killed about 10 p.m. Friday after his vehicle crossed the center divider on Woodley Avenue just north of Roscoe Boulevard and smashed into a second station wagon, Los Angeles Police Detective Dennis Ulick said.

Financially strapped Farm Aid returned Saturday with its first concert in 2 1/2 years, as performers sounded a message of concern not only for the family farmer but also for the land they till. Farm Aid President Willie Nelson topped the list of performers who said they were forging a coalition with family farmers, environmentalists and consumers to work toward reducing chemicals used in food production.

Fires sparked by an explosion killed at least 13 people and injured 19 at a chemical plant in a provincial industrial complex, police said Thursday. The fire started Wednesday at a plant of Lucky Ltd., Korea's largest chemicals producer, at Yonchon Petrochemical Industrial Estate, 200 miles southeast of Seoul.

Nine 55-gallon drums containing potentially toxic chemicals, and another open drum from which chemicals may have leaked, were discovered Friday in the Newport Back Bay, according to the Newport Beach Fire Department fire marshal. Apparently the drums washed into the bay from a construction site as a result of the recent storm, Fire Marshal Dennis Lockard said. Lockard said the nature of the chemicals and any harm they may have caused to the bay were still under investigation.

After listening to concerns about hazardous chemicals seeping through the floor of the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division, Councilman Mike Feuer introduced a motion Tuesday to fully analyze the contaminants, assess any danger to employees and determine if the city made any errors when it purchased the property 15 years ago. While the council considers the motion, officers the station are anxious for information.

Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical said Tuesday that it has hired two investment banking firms to help the Oakland company sell its chemicals business and to investigate possible joint-venture or sale opportunities for its aluminum operations. But despite the possible sales, Kaiser Aluminum, the operating subsidiary of KaiserTech Ltd., is not being liquidated, a company spokesman said.