Laserfiche WebLink
INFORMATION SHEET <br />OCCIDENTAL CHEMICAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, INC. <br />LATHROP, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY <br />As of 1 January 1983, Occidental Chemical Agricultural Products, Inc. (OCAP, for- <br />merly Occidental Chemical Company) conveyed to the J.R. Simplot Company (Simplot) <br />certain property and assets of the agricultural chemical production facility <br />located at 16777 South Howland Road, one mile south of Lathrop in San Joaquin <br />County, Section 35, T1S, R6E, MDB&M. Not included in the conveyance, but retained <br />by OCAP, were the ground water remedial system, its supporting laboratory, records, <br />and equipment, the phosphoric acid production plant, and the aqua recovery system. <br />Under terms of the Stipulation and Judgment Approving Settlement (No. CIV S-79-989 <br />MLS, hereafter Stipulation) entered as of 3 April 1981 in the civil action between <br />the United States of America and the State of California versus Occidental Chemical <br />Company, OCAP is responsible for mitigation, cleanup, and abatement of any contam- <br />ination of ground water attributable to operations at the Lathrop facility. Per- <br />formance of obligations under the Stipulation is unconditionally guaranteed by <br />Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Conveyance of the Lathrop facility from OCAP to <br />Simplot does not alter this responsibility. <br />Samples of the ground water collected in the vicinity of the Lathrop property <br />contain sulfates, dibromochloropropane (DBCP), sulfolane, ethylene dibromide (EDB), <br />lindane and other isomers of BHC, dimethoate and disyston. The ground water will <br />be cleaned up by containing the contaminated ground water through computer based <br />placement of five extraction wells, treating the extracted ground water through <br />activated carbon adsorption, and disposing of the treated water to a confined and <br />unuseable aquifer isolated from useable shallower ground water. The activated <br />carbon adsorption treatment will remove the toxic organic chemicals to levels below <br />established drinking water standards or state action levels. Sulfolane, a rela- <br />tively nontoxic (chronic and acute) chemical, will not be efficiently removed <br />(<15%) by the carbon adsorption system. Sulfates found in the ground water at <br />levels as high as 6800 mg/1, will not be removed by the activated carbon adsorption <br />system. The effect of not removing the sulfate and sulfolane will be insignificant <br />as the injection aquifer is unuseable for domestic or agricultural uses because of <br />high chloride levels (>1000 mg/1) and the aquifer is confined and isolated from <br />useable waters by a thick blue clay cap commonly referred to as the Corcoran clay <br />layer. <br />The ground water remedial system commenced operation 21 June 1982 under waste <br />discharge requirements established by Order No. 82-099. Performance of the ground <br />water remedial system is regulated jointly by the Board, State Department of Health <br />Services, State Department of Justice and US EPA through the Stipulation. <br />TRP:dg <br />3/02/83 <br />