EPA Says 51 Sites at Planned Development Still Contaminated

SAUGUS — The state Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that 51 contaminated areas exist on the site of a former munitions factory slated to become a housing development, contesting an assertion by the developer this week that the EPA had reduced the number to eight.

After the EPA announcement, officials of Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp., which owns the 996 acres in Saugus, said their claim was misunderstood.

They said they concur with the EPA study, which says eight of 76 tested sites on the tract have significant contamination, 43 have limited contamination and 25 have no contamination at all.

On Monday, Whittaker executive James B. Schultz had said 68 of the 76 had been given a clean bill of health.

“I can’t imagine what their motivation is,” EPA spokesman Pete Dufour said Thursday. “There’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Dufour said the company may be able to break ground for the 2,900-home project by 2001.

The soil on the parcel, south of Soledad Canyon Road, is polluted by red phosphorus (used in the manufacture of rat poison), pyrotechnic chemicals and solvents, the EPA said. Investigators also found 30-millimeter shells containing low levels of uranium.

Whittaker bought the land in 1967 from the Bermite Powder Co., which produced munitions and rocket fuel there from 1934 to 1987.