San Diego Agency May Have Illegally Dumped Waste for a Decade

"A local agency that's completed hundreds of lead paint remediation projects across San Diego has halted two jobs and launched an internal inquiry as it acknowledges that it may have improperly dumped lead waste for the last decade.

Since the San Diego Housing Commission began eliminating lead hazards from area homes with young children 10 years ago, its federally funded contractors have wrapped the resulting debris in two layers of plastic and sent it to the Miramar Landfill, said Dan Turpin, the commission's construction services director.

But some waste may have been so polluted with lead that it would've been legally deemed hazardous. State law would've required it to go to a hazardous waste landfill, with stricter rules for managing garbage than the city-owned Miramar Landfill."

Rob Davis reports for the Voice of San Diego May 25, 2010.