Chemical dumps in ocean off Southern California
During the 20th century, a large amount of chemical waste was dumped into the Pacific Ocean off of
The chemical waste was dumped in at least 14 offshore locations, ranging from the Channel Islands in the north, to the shores off Ensenada, Mexico in the south.
The
History
Dumping in the mid-20th century
From the 1930s until the early 1970s, multiple government agencies (including the
From 1946 to 1970, over 56,000 barrels of radioactive waste were dumped into the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to a 1999 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The barrels were dumped at sites ranging from Alaska to Southern California.[2]
Montrose, in addition to dumping DDT, also dumped sulfuric acid, which was a byproduct of the DDT manufacturing process. The acid was transported to the dump sites on barges operated by California Salvage Company.[3] The Montrose Corporation site, consisting of 13 acres (5.3 ha), is now an EPA Superfund site.
Other industries also discharged PCBs into the Los Angeles sewer system that ended up on the Palos Verdes Shelf.
Not all DDT waste was in the form of barrels. California Salvage, a company that provided waste disposal services during the 1960s, transported DDT on barges to "dumping site 2" (about halfway between Palos Verdes and Santa Catalina island) and dumped it directly into the ocean, as a liquid. Analysis by the EPA suggests that most of the DDT measured in the Southern California waters is from the barge disposal, rather than the barrels.[1][6][7]
Military munitions, including Hedgehogs, Mark 9 depth charges, anti-submarine weapons and smoke devices, were found on the ocean floor. These WW II munitions were commonly disposed of in the ocean before the 1970s.[8][7]
The EPA concluded that over 3 million tons of petroleum products were dumped in the Southern California waste sites, including refinery wastes, filter cakes and oil drilling wastes.[2]
Research and remediation
In 1973, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) published a report that identified 14 waste dump sites off the Southern California coast.[6][9]
Starting in 1975, contaminated waste disposal in the San Pedro Channel was prohibited. Thereafter, uncontaminated dredge materials continued to be disposed of at approved EPA sites in the San Pedro Channel.[1]
Since 1985, fish consumption advisories and health warnings have been posted in Southern California because of elevated DDT and PCB levels. Bottom-feeding fish are particularly at risk for high contamination levels. Consumption of
In October 1989, the former Montrose Chemical facility in Torrance was added to the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List.[12] The offshore Palos Verdes Shelf dumping site is an "Operable Unit" of that Montrose Chemical Superfund Site.[4][1]
In 1990, the United States and California filed lawsuits against several companies that had industrial facilities near the
Until as recently as 2007,
In 2017, after studying various approaches to remediation for the Palos Verdes Shelf, the EPA decided to leave the waste in place, and cover it with a layer of sediment.[18]
In 2020, the US Corps of Army Engineers published a study outlining a plan to dredge sediment from Queens Gate Channel (a deep water passage leading into the of Port of Long Beach) and deposit it over the Palos Verdes Shelf.[5]
In early 2021, a survey of the ocean floor using sonar uncovered more than 25,000 barrel-like objects on the sea floor that possibly contained DDT and other toxic chemicals.[7][19][20] The mission included a team of 31 scientists and engineers, led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[21]
In 2023, an expedition led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography re-surveyed the area, and used high-resolution photography. They confirmed the large number of barrels, and the photography revealed a large number of munitions on the ocean floor.[7]
In 2024, a team of scientists from the
Future plans
As of 2024, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are actively working on remediation of the Montrose site (in Torrance) and the Palos Verdes Shelf.
None of the 14 numbered offshore locations in the 1973 SCCWRP map (see map below) have been designated as operable units of the EPA's Montrose Superfund site, and hence are not subject to remediation efforts as of 2024. However, the EPA is performing initial studies on "site 2" from the 1973 SCCWRP map.[1]
Whether additional waste will be discovered in the ocean is an open question. According to environmental scientist Mark Gold from the Natural Resources Defense Council, “[t]he more we look, the more we find, and every new bit of information seems to be scarier than the last... This has shown just how egregious and harmful the dumping has been off our nation’s coasts, and that we have no idea how big of an issue and how big of a problem this is nationally.”[2][22]
Locations
The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) published a report in March 1973 that identified 14 waste dump sites off the Southern California coast. The SCCWRP map does not include the Palos Verdes Shelf site.[6][9]
The map below shows 13 of the 14 dump sites from the 1973 SCCWRP map; the missing fourteenth site is off the southern edge of the map, located at 31.847120N 118.57122W, off the coast of Mexico. The map below uses the same site numbering as the 1973 SCCWRP map.[1]
The map below includes two sites which are not included in the 1973 map: the Palos Verdes Shelf site, and the Montrose Chemical facility in Torrance.
List of dumped chemicals and waste
Chemicals and other waste that have been documented in waste sites off the Southern California shore include:
- DDT[1][6]
- Munitions, including depth charges and smoke devices.[23]
- Radioactive waste[2]
- PCBs[4]
- Sulfuric acid[3]
See also
- Chemical waste
- Marine pollution
- Toxic waste
- Superfund sites
- Southern California Bight
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Southern California Ocean Disposal Site #2 Investigation". www.epa.gov. 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ a b c d e f "It's not just toxic chemicals. Radioactive waste was also dumped off Los Angeles coast". Los Angeles Times. 2024-02-21. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ a b c "Disentangling the History of Deep Ocean Disposal for DDT and Other Industrial Waste Off Southern California", Jacob T. Schmidt, et al Environ. Sci. Technol. 2024, February 21, 2024 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c08575
- ^ a b c "Cleaning Up the Palos Verdes Shelf | Region 9: Superfund | US EPA". 19january2017snapshot.epa.gov. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ a b "Final Assessment for Borrow Site Dredging and Transportation, Palos Verdes Shelf Capping Demonstration Project" (PDF). US Army Corps of Engineers. August 2000. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d "History of DDT ocean dumping off L.A. coast even worse than expected, EPA finds". Los Angeles Times. 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ a b c d "WWII-Era Munitions Found Under Water in Survey of Southern California Industrial Waste Dump Site" Associated Press Jan. 5, 2024, Associated Press https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-01-05/thousands-of-wwii-era-munitions-found-under-water-in-survey-of-southern-california-dump-site
- ^ "Massive dumping ground of WWII-era munitions discovered off Los Angeles coast". Los Angeles Times. 2024-01-05. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ a b "The Ecology of the Southern California Bight: Implications for Water Quality Management", John D, Isaacs et al, 14 March 1973, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, http://ftp.sccwrp.org/pub/download/DOCUMENTS/TechnicalReports/010_3yrRptEcoImplicationsWQmgt.pdf
- ^ "Region 9: Cleaning up the Palos Verdes Shelf". US Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on February 18, 2004. Retrieved 23 February 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Off Shore DDT". www.palosverdes.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ "MONTROSE CHEMICAL CORP. Site Profile". cumulis.epa.gov. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ Mazza, Sandy (2015-12-20). "Harbor Gateway Superfund site cleanup on hold". Daily Breeze. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ^ Jergler, Don (2020-04-07). "California Supreme Court Ruling Will Enable Montrose to Tap Excess Policies". Insurance Journal. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ "Montrose Chemical Corp. Agrees to $77M in Consent Decrees in 31-Year Lawsuit Over DDT Pollution". The Recorder. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ Cone, Marla (March 13, 2013). "The Mystery of the Vanishing DDT in the Ocean Near Los Angeles". Scientific American.
- ^ "'Overwhelming': Scientists Confirm Massive DDT Dumping Ground On Ocean Floor Between Long Beach, Catalina Island". CBS LA. 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
- ^ "Cleaning Up the Palos Verdes Shelf: Summary of Activities | Region 9: Superfund | US EPA". Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ "Stunning DDT dump site off L.A. coast much bigger than scientists expected". Los Angeles Times. 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ "DDT – A Never Ending Story" Mark Gold, California Ocean Protection Council, https://www.opc.ca.gov/2022/07/ddt/#more-17550
- ^ "WWII-Era Munitions Found Under Water in Survey of Southern California Industrial Waste Dump Site", US News (from Associated Press) Jan. 5, 2024 https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-01-05/thousands-of-wwii-era-munitions-found-under-water-in-survey-of-southern-california-dump-site