Errors extend beyond Apex site

The state has fined three companies for mistakes that might cause explosions

The fireballs that rose from the Apex hazardous-waste warehouse in October put an exclamation point on a series of dangerous handling errors at chemical depots around the state.

The people who ate and slept near North Carolina's three most mistake-prone storehouses were never told about the mistakes. State inspectors documented them, then filed them away in the basement of a Raleigh office building.

Since 2000, regulators have repeatedly found the ingredients for explosions stacked together inside Apex and Charlotte waste warehouses. Although none resulted in a fire such as the blaze Oct. 5, they all happened down the street from homes, day-care centers and, in Apex, a church.

Go to the regulators' file room, and a portrait of neighborhood errors emerges:

* The Ashland warehouse in Charlotte has been cited for nine storage mistakes in the past six years, state records show. A company spokesman says none endangered surrounding neighborhoods or the nearby day-care center.

* In 2001, Heritage Environmental Services was cited for seven storage and handling errors at its storehouse, which is near a West Charlotte subdivision. That led one state inspector to write that he was concerned about the company's present operation. Heritage officials declined to comment.

* Between July 2004 and December 2005, EQ Industrial Services was cited for eight waste-handling mistakes at its Apex warehouse, which is close to about 45 townhouses, a gymnastics center and a roller hockey center. The company said the errors were easily fixed "technical violations," but it was fined $32,000 earlier this year.

Such mistakes are outside the norm for North Carolina's hazardous-waste storage industry, a News & Observer review of state records found. The state's 11 storehouses usually follow strict handling procedures that require them to separate chemicals that could mix and start a fire, cause an explosion or release toxic gas.

The consequences of such mistakes can be dire. The explosion Oct. 5 in Apex might have been sparked by a reaction between incompatible wastes, investigators from the federal Chemical Safety Board say, although the fire incinerated too much evidence for them to be certain. Nobody was hurt by the blaze, but about 30 people went to the hospital for respiratory problems.

Hazardous-waste companies say the danger of another explosive storage mistake is slim because they keep waste in sealed containers and check them frequently for leaks. That limits the chance of a reaction.

Mistakes are not always the companies' fault. Customers sometimes mislabel drums or pack incompatible wastes together.

Still, state regulators say storage mistakes might be symptoms of bigger safety problems.

"One of the first things that's on an inspector's mind when they go into any facility is: Do we have incompatible wastes stored together?" said Liz Cannon, chief of the state Division of Waste Management's hazardous-waste section. "And a red flag immediately goes up when you see that."

One day last month, Warren Gene Dellinger of Charlotte paused from mowing his lawn and pointed up the street at the Ashland warehouse. Nobody told him or his neighbors about the potentially dangerous mistakes made next door.

"I think it's just dangerous," said Dellinger, 68. "If they've been violating, then hey, why don't [regulators] stop it?"

Too close for comfort

Companies have been shipping such hazardous wastes as paint and pesticides in and out of warehouses scattered around the state for decades.

Last year, workers in the storehouses helped move 29,607 tons of trashed medical chemicals, newspaper ink and other waste to out-of-state incinerators, landfills and recyclers.