Excavation ends at medical waste service yard

Art Nadler

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 10:30 a.m.

NORTH LAS VEGAS -- Excavation of a medical waste recycling plant's yard was concluded Wednesday, leaving a hole 15 feet deep and 40-by-25 feet wide.

According to Environmental Technologies of Nevada Inc., US EnviroMedical Corp. (US Med), 3890 Walnut St., had more than 500 tons of dirt containing illegally buried medical waste removed and trucked to the Apex landfill, 19 miles north of Las Vegas.

Environmental Technologies is a subsidiary of Silver State Disposal Service, a company that is locked in a legal battle with US Med over the local medical waste disposal business. Environmental Technologies performed the excavation.

In a written statement issued Wednesday, US Med questioned having Silver State involved in the cleanup and suggested that the company had ulterior motives.

"We are convinced that SSDS and ET are grandstanding, exaggerating and in other ways misrepresenting the actual happenings at our facility and at the 'designated' site at their Apex landfill ...," US Med's statement read.

"Over the last two days, we have heard statements that between 200 and 500 tons of medical waste was removed from our property. We challenge anyone familiar with medical waste to verify that Las Vegas generates anywhere near that much medical waste ... 100 tons of medical waste is equivalent to 52,600 cubic feet ... about half the height of the Stratosphere Tower. How tall would 500 tons be?"

The statement goes on to point out that the Clark County Health District and University Medical Center, a US Med client, previously investigated its recycling operations and found them satisfactory.

Silver State has refused in the past to accept US Med's solid waste at its Apex landfill arguing that it wasn't treated through an autoclave heat pressurizing method.

According to Dr. Otto Ravenholt, Clark County chief health officer, Nevada regulations don't require that medical waste be treated. It can be placed in red plastic bags and buried in a Class I landfill, which is how Apex has been designated.

"We had no hazardous waste. That turned out to be a falsehood," Dennis Danzik, chief executive officer at US Med, said Wednesday. "They (Silver State) exploited that for a week in the media and beat the hell out of us."

Danzik said the medical waste was buried by a disgruntled employee, and that when US Med officials found out, the company took steps to remove the waste itself.

The company has a letter from Ben Bean, vice president and general manager, that was sent to the Clark County Health District informing it of US Med's intention to do the cleanup.

But the North Las Vegas Police served four search warrants and seized the yard before US Med could finish the cleanup, Danzik said.

"All we can get is a $500 fine for dumping," Danzik said.

However, North Las Vegas City Attorney Richard Maurer is asking US Med to "show cause" as to why its business license shouldn't be revoked. He plans to question officers of the company during the 7 p.m. City Council meeting Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Tom Gardner, regulatory manager of ET, said he is waiting for instructions from the Health District regarding two huge mounds of earth and medical waste resting on two specially rubber-lined areas at Apex.

Ravenholt simply said: "We suggest they bury it."