Oct 13, 2006

Pacific Steel feels the heat

25 suits filed against Berkeley company

By Doug Oakley

Pacific Steel Casting in Berkeley is facing 25 small claims lawsuits in Alameda County Superior Court from residents over odors coming from the plant, with each plaintiff seeking the maximum damages of $7,500.

The company is already fighting two other suits in county and federal courts over the odors, which neighbors allege are toxic.

A hearing for the small claims cases is set for Oct. 26, said Grace Neufeld, executive director of Neighborhood Solutions of Oakland, which helped residents file their suits.

"Their complaints are over noxious odors that give them headaches that make them have to stay inside when the odor is in the air," Neufeld said.

The suits are demanding damages under Berkeley and California nuisance laws that allow residents to sue over "the loss of enjoyment of their life and property," Neufeld said.

The 25 plaintiffs all live 10 to 20 blocks from the steel plant, which has three facilities near Gilman and Second streets.

Pacific Steel is in the process of installing a carbon filter device on its third plant built in 1981 at a cost of about $4.5 million that it hopes will filter the odors, said company Vice President Joe Emmerichs.

The two other plants, built in 1934 and 1975, where the company pours molten metal into forms made of sand and clay, already have filters on them.

A binder used to hold the sand and clay together is a likely cause of the smell. The third plant, where the filter is being installed, has increased production by about 30 percent in the last few years, Emmerichs said.

"We're researching new binder materials, but we want to make sure the quality of steel is not compromised," Emmerichs said.

Last year, Pacific Steel racked up $100 million in sales.

Emmerichs said the company is making an effort to open up to the community, something it has not done for a while.

"That has been the Pacific Steel policy for quite some time, but now we're changing that policy," Emmerichs said. "With this much going on, we definitely do want to get closer to our neighborhood. We've got nothing to hide. We don't do anything differently here at night than we do during the day."

He said in the 43 years he has worked at the plant, he has never seen this much residential opposition. And he guessed that Pacific Steel's recent problems are coming from "the same people who started it in the '80s and '90s."

"We're going to change," Emmerichs said. "Once all this is over, we're going to bring the neighbors in here to see it."

E-mail Doug Oakley at doakley@ebdailynews.com.