Storage Difficulties Promise New Delay in McColl Cleanup

Another delay in the cleanup at Fullerton’s McColl dump--this one expected to last at least two months--is likely now because a plan for temporary storage of the excavated hazardous waste material is not proving feasible, a state health official said Friday.

A federal official working on the cleanup agreed that a delay is likely, but said he is unsure how long it would be.

State Department of Health Services spokeswoman Florence Pearson said the cleanup, which had been scheduled to start early next month, would probably be delayed because federal and state officials have reconsidered their plan to temporarily store the waste in a Santa Barbara County landfill.

Federal Ruling The temporary storage was made necessary earlier this month when federal officials ruled that the final dumping site, in the same landfill, would have to be double-lined to prevent leakage before finally putting the waste there.

At the time the ruling was issued, federal Environmental Protection Agency officials said the temporary storage decision would not delay the scheduled start of the McColl cleanup.

But Pearson said Friday that the additional expense of the temporary storage--estimated at $1 million to $2 million--and the difficulty of moving the waste twice made officials reconsider.

Cost Escalation The current cost of the cleanup is estimated at $21.6 million, plus about $6 million more for the double liner installation, said Keith Takata, EPA regional branch chief in San Francisco.

Takata said the delay may add some additional cost to the cleanup because the company hired to excavate the dump will be on the job longer. He could not estimate how much the extra cost would be.

Pearson said the EPA has not yet made a final decision on the temporary storage option, “but at the current time it doesn’t look as if it’s going to work out.”

Takata said Friday that a delay “does appear likely now. We will have some delay, it could be about two months, but right now we’re talking in relatively general terms.”

Installation of the double liner and administrative problems could delay the project more than two months, Pearson said.

Longer Than Two Months? “I think what we’re saying now is that it (the delay) is optimistically two months,” she said. “We’regoing to do everything we can to put all this together in the shortest possible time frame, but it’s possible it’ll take longer than two months.”

Residents of the area surrounding the dump, many of them citing repeated delays in the cleanup, expressed disappointment Friday at the prospect of yet another postponement.

But there also was optimism that the cleanup, preparation for which is now under way at the site, will ultimately be completed.

“I’m very disappointed, but I’m sure they’ll finish the job now,” said resident Nilze McCrosky. “It’s just a matter of time and waiting. What can we do? Our hands are tied.”

‘A Lot of Delays’ Another resident, Connie Burdick, said: “I’m just hoping there won’t be more than two months’ delay. We’ve had a lot of delays, but my feeling is that everything will work out all right. I really feel it (the cleanup project) will keep rolling.”

Takata also said he understands that the temporary storage option fell through because of logistics and not cost, adding: “The state would have a better feel for that (the reasons for the delay).”

Even if the delay poses no long-term problems, Santa Barbara County officials may try to stop the cleanup. County supervisors there have authorized a lawsuit to stop shipment of the waste through the county.

Court actions in Orange County plus administrative and funding questions have slowed the start of the project.

The McColl dump site was created in the 1940s when oil companies, producing aviation fuel for World War II, deposited waste materials in 12 pits operated by a man named Eli McColl in then-rural Fullerton.

Now the site, situated under a vacant field and a portion of a nine-hole golf course on the Los Coyotes Country Club, is bordered on three sides by expensive homes.

State health officials have determined that the soil contains sulfuric acid, benzene and arsenic and that the fumes contain sulfur dioxide, causing surrounding residents to suffer from headaches, nausea and respiratory problems.

The state plans to excavate 200,000 tons of waste and contaminated soil and transport them to the Casmalia Resources landfill in Santa Barbara County. Preparations for the excavation now under way include construction of roads, fences, decontamination facilities, a truck scale and traffic signals, all on a section of the golf course adjacent to the buried waste.

The EPA’s “Superfund” for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites will pay for most of the project.