Two years after metal recycling company Halaco Engineering Co. closed its doors in Oxnard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is leading an investigation to determine if the site should be deemed hazardous and placed on the country's Superfund list for cleanup.

Members of the EPA Emergency Response and Site Mitigation teams will conduct a full investigation on the 40-acre site beginning June 19, said Robert Wise, EPA Emergency Response Team on-scene coordinator.

The Emergency Response Team, which has made tours of the site near Ormond Beach since March, will collect air, soil, sandbar and groundwater samples. If the findings show a high level of toxicity, the area could be placed on the National Priorities List, more commonly known as Superfund.

EPA officials expect the investigation to run two to three weeks. The EPA had to wait for the site to be abandoned and for the state's approval before it could conduct the environmental assessment, Wise said.

"The site has been sampled to death by other groups, but it's been piecemeal up to this point," Wise said. "We want to look at it as a whole unit."

A huge waste pile that ranges from 30 to 50 feet tall still sits on 28 acres of the Halaco site, Wise said. The team also will examine the on-site smelter and a number of 5-gallon pails and 55-gallon drums abandoned at the site.

In 2002, state water regulators ordered the metal recycling company to clean up the slag heap on the parcel. Four months later, Halaco declared bankruptcy. The metal recycling company ended its operations in 2004, Wise said.

The EPA also will work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Coastal Conservancy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and California Fish and Game.

The Halaco site sits next to 265 acres of wetlands owned by the Coastal Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy owns an additional 276 acres. Mary Small, South Coast regional project manager of the Coastal Conservancy, said both groups hope to purchase more land in the area.

EPA officials said they also will collect fish samples and look at migration of any sediment runoff into the wetland, which drains into the ocean.

"We are very pleased they (the EPA) are responding so aggressively," said Peter Brand, state Coastal Conservancy project manager. "The information they will come up with be crucial to wetland restoration for the areas and the environmental health of the surrounding community."

Once the samples are collected and studied, there is a series of steps that need to be taken before a cleanup could occur. First, the Emergency Response Team will look at the data and determine if any other area samples need to be collected. A feasibility study will be done to assess all options to clean the site, which could include removal of everything from the site or no further action, Wise said.

Preliminary samples collected show elevated levels of heavy metal in the waste management unit pile and in the smelter storage area, Wise said.

The Site Mitigation Team also will look at the data to determine whether the site should be considered for the Superfund list.

"In the event there is any type of removal, we usually consider going door to door to notify area businesses and residents," said EPA spokesman Francisco Arcaute. "But we are not removing anything from the site at this point."

The Lawrence Welk Group - a Los Angeles-based music publishing, resort and real estate company - offered $2.5 million for the property and was waiting to close escrow last October. Calls to Welk Group President and Chief Operating Officer Marc Luzzatto were not returned.

"As far as I know, there was never a plan to make the (Halaco) site a part of the wetland," said Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills. "Ideally, thorough cleanup will occur and the area restored so it could be purchased by a private entity. We want to make sure it will be clean enough for homes or other appropriate uses."

EPA officials said people should not venture onto the property, which is not fenced.

"We have documented proof of people riding their dirt bikes off the waste pile or walking their dogs there," Wise said. "It would be best if they do not go in there."