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Kings County receives clean quarterly review of Kettleman Hills hazardous waste facility
Summary
Chemical Waste Management’s Kettleman Hills facility reported no violations during recent inspections and outlined permit timing issues; board received the quarterly report and accepted it unanimously.
The Kings County Board of Supervisors heard a quarterly operations report July 22 from the Kettleman Hills Facility (KHF), operated by Chemical Waste Management Incorporated, and voted unanimously to accept the report.
Bob Henry, senior district manager for the facility, told the board that multiple regulatory inspections in the reporting period turned up no violations. “No violations, no issues were identified during the inspection,” Henry said, summarizing findings from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, the county environmental health service, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
Henry outlined the facility’s recent interactions with regulators: a DTSC Class 1 permit modification request to update groundwater and leachate sampling methods, a five‑year air permit renewal in process with the air district, focused inspections of surface impoundments, and an EPA wipe‑sampling inspection related to the PCB building. He said that in one incident a power surge disabled an air data recorder for about 38 hours, which the facility reported to the air district and later remedied.
Henry also described a timing mismatch among overlapping permits and waste discharge requirements from different agencies, saying the facility is temporarily operating under older and newer permit references until DTSC finalizes updates. He explained that the facility must request parallel permit modifications where both DTSC and U.S. EPA authority apply.
County staff noted ongoing DTSC Part B permit renewal activity; DTSC said it would not issue a final decision earlier than February 2026, and any party would have 30 days to appeal. The board voted 5‑0 to receive and file the quarterly report.
The board asked that the facility return next quarter. Henry said the facility will present again and that KHF will appear at the county’s 2025 State of the County event on Oct. 16 as a silver sponsor.
