Lokern Hazardous Waste Facility, California

Also called the Buttonwillow Landfill, this is a hazardous waste dump now operated by Clean Harbors, the largest hazardous waste company in the country. The 320-acre facility accepts Class 1 wastes from petroleum-related industries, such as soils contaminated by chemicals from extraction and refining operations. Clean Harbors bought a number of hazardous waste disposal sites including this one, from Safety-Kleen, which bought them previously from Laidlaw Environmental Services in the late 1990's. Safety-Kleen buried 2,200 tons of low-level radioactive material from New York at this dump in 1999/2000.