He Turns to Anaheim After Brea Facility Is Closed : Man Cited in Toxic Dumping Plans New Plant

The owner of a closed Brea metal-plating company, who is awaiting trial for allegedly dumping toxic chemicals into the Orange County sewer system, has received a business license for another such plant in Anaheim, city officials said Thursday.

Narendra Shah of Yorba Linda was granted a license last November for National Plating & Finishing Inc. in the 5500 block of East La Palma Avenue in Anaheim, although the firm must obtain a waste-disposal permit from the Orange County Sanitation Districts before it can begin operations.

Narendra Shah and his partner, Vinod Shah, of Fullerton were arrested Oct. 29 on suspicion of dumping toxic waste from their firm, S&B; Plating and Metal Finishing Inc., into a sewer.

The two men, who are not related, are charged with 54 misdemeanor offenses involving the discharge of hazardous chemicals from S&B;, which was located in the 500 block of Apollo Street in Brea. The firm was closed after the arrests.

Sewer Line Capped

One day after the arrests, the sanitation districts capped the sewer line at S&B; because the men had allegedly resumed the dumping.

The men, who were released on $3,000 bail each, are scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 9 in Orange County Municipal Court. If convicted, each could face up to six months in jail and the company could be fined up to $296,500, sanitation officials said.

Corinne Clawson, a spokeswoman for the sanitation districts, which filed the criminal complaint against the men, said the arrests marked the first time criminal charges have been brought by the districts against an alleged industrial polluter.

Lari Schubert, a spokeswoman with Anaheim’s business license division, said that Shah was granted the license because he met department requirements.

“We are a tax collection agency,” she said. “We are not a regulatory agency. We check to see that the person has paid their taxes.”

Application Denied

Narendra Shah’s application last November to the Orange County Sanitation Districts for a waste-disposal permit was denied because he did not meet all of the “technical and financial” requirements. But he has reapplied, said Richard W. von Langem , chief of the sanitation districts’ industrial waste division.

“His application will be reviewed carefully to make sure it meets all of the requirements,” van Langem said. “Right now, he is only alleged to have discharged. He is innocent until proven guilty.” The new business will be “thoroughly monitored,” von Langem added.

Sanitation agency spokeswoman Clawson said there is no legal basis for rejecting Shah’s application. “As long as he operates his business in compliance with the law, we have no legal basis on which to deny the application,” she said.

Neither Narendra Shaw nor Vinod Shah could be reached for comment Thursday. Barry A. Bisson, Vinod Shah’s attorney, said the county probably will keep close watch on the new business if it opens.

“I predict that he will have such extraordinary surveillance that if he spits on the sidewalk, he will be cited,” Bisson said.

Only an Employee

Bisson claims that his client was only an employee of the S&B; plant and not an owner. But Clawson has said, “Narendra Shah has in the past signed industrial waste permits for S&B;, representing himself as the owner. And according to the property management company, Vinod Shah signed the property lease.”

The criminal complaint filed by the sanitation districts alleges that the dumping occurred during July and August of last year.

Analysis of the S&B; waste showed more than 800 times the legal limit for zinc, 500 times the allowable limit for cadmium, 120 times the allowable limit for chromium and 30 times the allowable limit for copper.

Cadmium is known to be a carcinogen when ingested and chromium when it comes into prolonged contact with the skin, although sanitation officials said the amounts discharged by S&B; were probably not hazardous.