Tanks Storage

The FBI said Saturday it had arrested three men in connection with a possible attempt to blow up two huge chemical storage tanks near a U.S. Navy base at Norfolk, Va. Officials cited extortion rather than terrorism as the apparent motive. The discovery last Monday of six pipe bombs attached to the storage tanks triggered an immediate federal investigation because of the possibility that the incident marked the beginning of a terrorism campaign encouraged by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

In the first enforcement of its kind against a public agency, the state water board announced Tuesday that it has reached a $6.2-million settlement with the city of Long Beach for violating regulations governing the storage of petroleum and waste oil in underground tanks. The State Water Resources Control Board "will not tolerate violations of these important environmental protection laws, and will take swift action against all violators, whether public or private," said Reed Sato, director of the board's office of enforcement.

In the first enforcement of its kind against a public agency, the state water board announced Tuesday that it has reached a $6.2-million settlement with the city of Long Beach for violating regulations governing the storage of petroleum and waste oil in underground tanks. The State Water Resources Control Board "will not tolerate violations of these important environmental protection laws, and will take swift action against all violators, whether public or private," said Reed Sato, director of the board's office of enforcement.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to spend $17 million to eliminate a 14-acre chemical terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, delivering on promises made nearly six years ago to improve safety of nearby neighborhoods in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The council gave the Port of Los Angeles permission to buy out the remaining 18 years of a lease held by Westway Terminal Co., which operates 136 tanks on the San Pedro side of the harbor's main channel.

Work crews in Westminster began the process Tuesday of demolishing a giant concrete storage tank that ruptured nearly a year ago, sending 5 million gallons of water roaring through a housing complex. City officials hope the demolition will remove a public safety hazard and provide some closure to residents awakened early Sept. 21 by the wall of water rushing through their Hefley Square Town Homes neighborhood.

The Shell Oil Co. and some of its affiliates were ordered Wednesday to continue providing water for Santa Monica residents that was lost to contamination from leaking service station fuel storage tanks. Laurie Williams, an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency--which joined the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control District in handing down the order--estimated the annual cost of the replacement water at about $3.2 million.

Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckus on Thursday asked county supervisors to support a major crackdown on operators of faulty underground storage tanks that pose a long-term risk to Orange County's ground-water supply. County officials stressed that the tanks--many of them leaking chemicals into the ground--don't present an immediate threat to the public. But they said the pollution could eventually seep into the aquifers that supply Orange County with half its drinking water.

The state Department of Health Services will conduct a public hearing Wednesday on the Navy's request to continue operating two hazardous waste storage tanks at the Naval Weapons station in Seal Beach. The health department and the federal Environmental Protection Agency will consider public comments before deciding whether to issue a permit. The permit was originally granted in 1983 for two tanks with a capacity of about 9,000 gallons each. A new permit would be for 10 years.

Tougher standards and more uniform testing of new and rebuilt steel oil tanks could prevent spills such as the one in Pennsylvania this year that contaminated the water supply in three states, a government report said. The investigation by the Commerce Department's National Bureau of Standards concluded that the Ashland Petroleum Co.

One man died and four others were injured Monday when the roof of a storage tank collapsed at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Wilmington. The contract workers were replacing the steel bottom of the empty, 90,000-barrel tank when its adjustable steel roof fell. "Somehow or another, there was a collapse" and the 120-foot-diameter roof fell to just two feet above the tank floor, said Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Lou Rapouli. More than 60 firefighters responded to the 9:30 a.m.

Many people would be happy to get rid of an old, rusty water tank towering 130 feet above their homes. Not in west Torrance. Residents of this middle-class enclave harbor warm feelings for their familiar "quiet neighbor"--a white, 750,000-gallon tank visible for miles. "We all use it as a focal point for directions," said homeowner Karen Beverly.

The City Council approved a $1.3-million contract Wednesday to start the foundation work for two 8-million-gallon water tanks. The project will replace the tank that ruptured on Hefley Street in 1998. Six people were injured and more than 30 families were displaced, when a 6-foot-high wall of water damaged a housing complex and fire station. City officials put the damage at nearly $30 million. "We want to get moving on this," Mayor Margie Rice said.

An investigation into possible gasoline contamination of soil and water led to the excavation and removal of two vintage storage tanks Wednesday. The fumes from the tanks, filled with roughly 500 gallons of gasoline, and surrounding soil were intense enough for workers to wear masks during much of the removal project, which began Tuesday.

Concerned that Orange County's vast ground water supply is being threatened by leaks from underground gasoline tanks, local prosecutors are proposing what would be the state's--and possibly the nation's--toughest rules yet for monitoring such containers. Although pollution from gas storage tanks is a problem across the country, the stakes are especially high in Orange County because of the area's reliance on underground aquifers, which produce drinking water for more than 1 million residents.

Concerned that Orange County's vast groundwater supply is being threatened by leaks from underground gasoline tanks, local prosecutors are proposing what would be the state's--and possibly the nation's--toughest rules yet for monitoring such containers. While pollution from gas storage tanks is a problem across the country, the stakes are especially high in Orange County because of the area's reliance on underground aquifers, which produce drinking water for more than 1 million residents.

Payments of about $150,000 a month to expand Los Angeles' Hyperion sewage treatment plant will continue uninterrupted, state water officials say, because the city has forwarded part of the $840,000 in underground storage tank fees owed to the state. Water officials threatened to withhold sewer payments because the money is the only financial leverage they had to force the city to collect and pass on the fees.

A 2,500-gallon gasoline tank ruptured and exploded in flames outside a restaurant Saturday, injuring at least six people, one critically, authorities said.

A South County hospital accused of keeping a faulty underground fuel tank has settled a lawsuit, making it the first such case since Dist. Atty. Anthony J. Rackauckas announced in May that his agency would be cracking down on such storage containers. Prosecutors filed the lawsuit as a formality last week against Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, even though the hospital fixed its 20,000-gallon fuel tank in August, Deputy Dist. Atty. Nicholas Thompson said.

The Shell Oil Co. and some of its affiliates were ordered Wednesday to continue providing water for Santa Monica residents that was lost to contamination from leaking service station fuel storage tanks. Laurie Williams, an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency--which joined the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control District in handing down the order--estimated the annual cost of the replacement water at about $3.2 million.