Toxic site near South L.A. homes finally faces state cleanup order

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Set us as preferred The California toxic substances agency has ordered the cleanup of a site in the Central-Alameda neighborhood of Los Angeles, citing what “appears to be a major source of contamination” that “may present a substantial hazard to human health.”Four Star Chemical and American Labs operated in the late 1970s and 1980s at 5701 Compton Ave.handling hazardous waste.

When the site was last tested, solvents were found in the soil below the pavement and down 150 feet.The company has been closed for 38 years.

“You smell all types of stuff around here,” said Barry Jenkins, a resident who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years.“It smells like a chemical.” It’s nauseating, he said.The businesses had two 3,000-gallon waste storage tanks on site and an additional 4,000-gallon tank for treating waste.

There also was waste stored in drums.Separated only by a gated alley, the fenced-off facility is about 100 feet from the nearest home.

A Google Maps image show children’s play equipment outside that home, and on a recent visit there was an above-ground pool.Across the street is an 8.5-acre historic South L.A.oasis — Augustus F.

Hawkins Nature Park.The language of the order from the Department of Toxic Substances Control is urgent.

Yet the most recent testing at the site was 25 years ago.The test results appear in blurry tables in pdfs.

Those tables, plus a hard-to-decipher map dating to the same time, show high levels of a carcinogenic chemical on the property and extending beyond it.Specifically, that 2001 testing showed the carcinogenic solvent and dry-cleaning chemical perchloroethylene, or PCE, in the soil at levels as high as 6,658 micrograms per liter, said Alysa Pakkidis, information officer for the agency.

That’s 14 million times as much as can safely be in indoor air, accord...