The South Coast Air Quality Management District today ordered Anaplex Corp. – a metal-finishing facility in Paramount – to temporarily curtail all operations and processes emitting the toxic compound hexavalent chromium.
SCAQMD ordered Anaplex Corp. at 15547 Garfield Ave. to shut down all equipment with the potential to emit hexavalent chromium as of 4:30 p.m. today because the agency’s air monitors, on average, recorded levels of the compound above a trigger threshold of 1.0 nanograms per cubic meter.
The level is an average of three 24-hour samples collected over a period of about a week. The threshold, agreed to by Anaplex, was specified in an administrative order adopted by the independent SCAQMD Hearing Board on Jan. 10, 2017.
The following table shows recent levels of hexavalent chromium at two SCAQMD monitors downwind of Anaplex:
|
Date |
Site #14 | Site #15* |
|
July 31 |
0.50 |
0.45 |
|
Aug. 3 |
0.36 |
0.00 |
|
Aug. 6 |
0.93 |
3.46 |
| Average | 0.6 |
1.3 |
*Hexavalent chromium levels in nanogram/cubic meter, with background level of hexavalent chromium subtracted
Anaplex will not be able to resume operations of any equipment with the potential to emit hexavalent chromium until SCAQMD determines that the average of three most recent samples, collected over a period of about one week, is below 1.0 nanograms per cubic meter.
This is the sixth time SCAQMD has ordered Anaplex to curtail its operations since the Hearing Board adopted its order. The company previously curtailed work in February, June and December 2017, and January and February in 2018.
Since fall of 2016, SCAQMD has monitored more than 35 locations in the Paramount area and collected and analyzed hundreds of samples for hexavalent chromium. Hexavalent chromium is a potent human carcinogen associated with lung cancer when inhaled over long periods of time, typically years to decades.
Members of the public can find information on SCAQMD’s air monitoring and enforcement activities in Paramount on the SCAQMD website.
The SCAQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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