Local News in Brief : L.A. Sues to Stop Waste Incinerator

The city of Los Angeles on Thursday sued the state Department of Health Services in the latest attempt to block construction of a toxic waste incinerator in Vernon.

The city wants the state to rescind its approval of the incinerator and order an environmental impact study before allowing construction of the $29-million project. The plant, which would burn substances such as solvents, pesticides and oil sludges, is the first commercial incinerator planned for a metropolitan area in the state.

Donald Bright, a spokesman for California Thermal Treatment Services Inc. of Placentia, the company planning the Bandini Boulevard plant, said the company had already spent 18 months preparing environmental and health studies and concluded that there are no significant health risks associated with the project. Bright called the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit “politically motivated and completely without merit.”

Community activists have been fighting the proposed incinerator for more than two years, claiming the plant would endanger the health of thousands of residents in surrounding areas.