Groundwater Pollution May be Caused by Disney’s California Headquarters

According to the LA Times, a vintage air conditioning system at Walt Disney Studios is being investigated as the source of Chromium 6 by Federal and state regulators. Chromium 6 is a cancer-causing heavy metal which is widely used in aerospace manufacturing and other industries. A number of companies in the area, including Lockheed Martin Corp., have already been identified as being responsible for the contamination of the area’s groundwater. In 1996, Lockheed Martin paid about 1,300 residents $60 million to settle claims where the residents alleged that exposure to chromium 6 and other toxins at the former aircraft manufacturing plant left them sick with cancer and other illnesses.

Disney’s California Headquarters has come under investigation recently based on a larger investigation into groundwater contamination. Because of community concerns regarding contamination, the California Department of Health tested soil in a nearby park in 2010 that had historically received discharges of water from the air conditioning system at Disney and found Chromium 6. The levels of chromium 6 at the time were deemed not a threat to public health. Regardless of this find, the EPA sent a letter to Walt Disney Co., and its president, Robert Iger, in 2011, asking them to “describe in detail and in narrative fashion, the cooling system and cooling towers used at the facility, and changes to the cooling systems and cooling towers since the beginning of Disney operations at the facility.”

Cooling towers are a known source of chromium 6 contamination and Disney’s system was being investigated because their system used cooling towers.

Disney denies using chromium compounds in its air conditioning system or cooling towers. The company sent a response to the EPA on May 17, 2011, that it stored a small amount of chromium-based material used to clean equipment in film processing and that the hazardous waste was properly disposed of through the city of Burbank. Disney said tests of the wastewater discharge showed low levels of chromium that were “well within the effluent limitations allowed by the city of Burbank.”

Related articles

• Chromium 6 suspected at Disney Studios (latimes.com)

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