Report: Wyle Labs may have mishandled toxic waste at SoCal testing site

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Wyle Laboratories may have mishandled toxic waste at a military and nuclear test site, while government regulators failed to properly monitor environmental contamination in the area, despite complaints from sick residents and former Wyle employees, according to a newspaper report.

The Press-Enterprise of Riverside said it reviewed thousands of pages of documents dating back to the 1960s and interviewed Wyle officials, government regulators, former Wyle employees and local residents in its investigation published Sunday.

According to the report, former employees said Wyle pumped excessive amounts of dangerous chemicals from rocket fuels into the air, and that dumping solvents and oils in the fields surrounding test sites was standard practice.

But it wasn't until last November when Wyle sold the Norco property to a housing developer, that regulators began paying close attention to the allegations of environmental contamination, the newspaper said.

Drexel Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Wyle Laboratories, defended the company's practices, stating that the company's actions "reflected what legal standards required."

But more than 30 people in the small town of Norco have had life-threatening thyroid cancers or growths that they believe could be linked to hazardous materials at the Norco facility. Dozens more suspect that the testing site could be responsible for their brain cancer, leukemia, bladder cancer, miscarriages and heart conditions, the newspaper said.

Odessa Phillips remembers seeing a white cloud racing toward her car as she pulled out of her driveway with her three young daughters back in 1966. "It was terrifying. I had no idea what it was," said Phillips, who has survived breast cancer, lost her husband to lung cancer and watched two of her daughters and several neighbors battle life-threatening thyroid growths and cancer.

Phillips and many other residents question whether government regulators did enough to monitor Wyle as it conducted secret tests for the defense department, NASA and the nuclear energy industry.

Government regulators told the Press-Enterprise that they do not have evidence to hold Wyle responsible for any illnesses among local residents, and the California Cancer Registry recently found that cancer rates among residents living near Wyle were within normal ranges, and there was no sign of a cancer cluster.

Smith also told the Press-Enterprise there was no evidence of a connection between the incidence of cancer and the Norco site

"The number and levels of contaminants in four years of sampling are not high enough to get people concerned," he said. "We have absolutely no information...that leads me as a manager to conclude that what we have done has ever exposed the public or employees to a health risk."

Calls placed to Wyle, the Riverside County Department of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by the Associated Press Sunday were not immediately returned.

The El Segundo-based company, with annual revenues of more than $150 million, chose the Norco site about 40 miles east of Los Angeles in 1957 because of its isolated location. But for years now, the testing grounds have been surrounded by homes. Norco High School sits directly across the street.

Although scheduled to relocate the facility next year, Wyle is still testing commercial and military products at the property.

With the recent sale of Wyle's property to Newport-based developer St. Clair Co., regulators are now working to determine the level of environmental contamination and how far it might have spread into the community.

St. Clair officials say they are confident the land will be made safe enough for families who move into the 368 new homes that will sell for $500,000 to $800,000.

In its investigation, the Press-Enterprise said a former employee who had photographs to support his claims complained to county health authorities in 1994 about hazardous waste-dumping at the lab in Norco, but the county determined his concerns were unfounded without inspecting the site.

In 1988, a report by state and federal agencies concluded that Wyle was of little environmental concern, without any inspection of the property, the Press-Enterprise said. That report became the basis for regulators' lack of concern over Wyle for the next 10 years, according to the newspaper

In its investigation, the Press-Enterprise found that six former Wyle employees reported seeing dangerous chemicals dumped down drains or spilled onto the ground and that public records confirmed their accounts.