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From "The Register", Orange County Edition, April 26, 1982 Cypress wants another opinion on tank hazards By Christopher Dee Essentially, the Air Quality Manage Register staff writer ment District said ail the tanks are equipped with vapor recovery systems. CYPRESS -- City officials plan to ask Doug Newton, assistant director of en nearby universities for help in determin forcement. said these systems prevent ing whether the Texaco Tank Farm pre fumes from escaping into the air. The sents a health risk to residents here. . systems were found to be working proper City Manager Darrell Essex said he will ty during a test conducted in late Febru send letters to the chemistry departments ary. he mldcd. at California State Universities at Fuller i)r. Thomas Prendergast, director of ton and Long Beach asking if they will epidemiology and disease control for the conduct an in-depth study of the neighbor, comity Health Department, discounted hood surrounding the 52 petroleum stor the tank farm's possible link with cancer. age tanks. However, he said, "It is not possible to be The tanks are located on a half-milc- totally reassuring to residents of an area * square block bounded by Ball Road, with an apparent increase of cancer Orange Avenue, Moody and Denni streets. risk." They have been there since the early Prendergast said a study of vital re ! 1900s, Essex said. cords data for the lank farm neighborhood Currently, Texaco leases 40 of the tanks shows "no consistent pattern indicating to Southern California Edison for storage an environmental hazard." of fuel oil. Texaco operates 12 tanks, stor He said the death rate in the Cypress ing crude oil that is transferred to Signal neighborhood --6.G per 1,000 population -- Hill for processing. is not significantly higher than the county The tanks became a source of City average of fi.3. Council concern' in February when Cyp ress resident Robert Bess said he had discovered that at least three, possibly five, neighbors have cancer. He called his street "infirmary row." The council asked the Orange County Health Department and the South Coast Air Quality Management District to look into the tank farm's possible link with Cancer. But neither the council nor Bess was satisfied with what those agencies had to say. "I don't feel much different after re ceiving this information (from the health The number of cancer-related deaths is slightly lower in that Cypress neighbor hood -- 1.4 per 1,000 --than the 1.5 county figure. "Neither the number of such deaths nor their distribution by cause appears to be unusual," Prendergast said. Texaco officials, meanwhile, have de nied the tanks have anything to do with cancer. They said monthly inspections detect no emissions because of the vapor recovery systems. Still, council members said they are not totally reassured. They recently voted and air officials)," Bess said at a council unanimously to ask the universities to meeting last week. 'Tin almost as con conduct a more comprehensive study of fused now as before I got the informa- the neighborhood and its residents' illness | tion." pattern. . ' 1 WA-TEX 006466 WA-TEX006466 T'E XAC O 5AT~<3u. PACIFIC COAST PIPE LINES l Wilmington, California, March 19, 1982 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS PCPL MEMORANDUM Mr. P. S. Reis Los Angeles, California Please reference our memo dated February 24, 1982, above subject. Attached article is being sent to you for your information. SEB cc: FAOr.-CBK-JWA(NS) Fdtf-TRS RAC LOWELL K. CRAFT WA--TEX 006467 WA-TEX006467 SA The Register Wednesday, Mar. 17, 1982 Tank Farm controversy Residents fear cancer link; ment, said that a detailed analysis of the issue is imposs ible. oil industry rejects claims The problem, Prendergast said, is that only rtafn on By Christopher Dee Register staff writer deaths is available on cancer. Even if it were found that a large number of i>eople living next to the half-mile-square tank farm at Ball Itoad and Orange Avenue have cancer, there is no data to ' CYPRESS -- Air and health officials say it is not likely compare the neighborhood .with others, he said. j that 52 petroleum tanks in town, known as the Texaco "It's a very difficult question to answer. Clearly i : Tank Farm, are the cause of cancer among neighboring can't answer it. I don't have the kind of data to answer residents. that question," Prendergast said. However, the health officials say, the possibility cannot Complicating matters is the fact that cancer is thought be ruled out. The City Council, therefore, will continue ils to take up to 20 years to appear in a person exposed to discussion of the issue. environmental carcinogens. The question first was raised last month by Robert Bess, who lives a block east of the lank farm. He told the City Council that his street, Salisbury Lane, has become an "infirmary row" with three, perhaps five, neighbors Usually, Prendergast said, environmental factors pre sent at the beginning of a cancer's growth are more important than later environmental factors. Texaco spokesman Norm Stanley said in a telephone suffering from cancer. interview last month that company officials believe the The council asked the South Coast Air Quality Control tank farm has nothing to do with cancer among neigh District and the Orange Country Health Department to bors. look into the tank farm's possible link to cancer. Stanley saideach tank is equipped with a vapor recov Letters from the agencies to the council were to be ery system to prevent emissions into the air. made available to council members today. The council is Doug Newton, assistant director of enforcement for scheduled to discuss the issue at its meeting on Monday, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said in which begins at 6:30 p.m., said City Manager Darrell a letter to the council that the vapor recovery systems Essex. r were found to be operational, during an agency checkup Dr. Thomas Prendergast, director of epidemiology and Feb. 26. disease control at the Orange County Health Depart Please see TANKS/82 I` i I? i: lx iei -- i i teacners. TANKS -------------------- ---------------------------------------- FROM B1 "All of the tanks have district permits to operate," Newton .said, "and no violations of district rules and regulations were detected." Air tests also were conducted .in the residential neigh borhoods surrounding the lank farm, Newton said. ' "AH readings both up and downwind of the tank farm were negligible, less than l part per million." Of the 52 tanks, 12 were used by Texaco. Forty are leased to Southern California Edison. WA-TEX 006468 fcaa 5. i. r WA-TEX006468