Court Order Halts McColl Dump Cleanup

The often-delayed efforts to clean up Fullerton’s McColl dump hit another major snag Friday when a judge ruled against the state’s plans to remove the hazardous wastes to a Kern County disposal site.

After six days of hearings in Bakersfield, visiting Los Angeles Superior Court Judge H. Walter Croskey ordered the estimated $26.5-million project halted until an environmental impact report is prepared, an action that could delay the work anywhere from six to 18 months.

“It’s clearly a project as to which there is a reasonable possibility that the environment may be significantly affected,” Croskey said in his 32-page ruling. He ordered the state Department of Health Services to comply with the provisions and guidelines of the California Environmental Quality Act with regard to cleanup, removal, transport and disposal of more than 200,000 tons of petroleum waste.

Some Confusion

Whether Croskey’s order pertains to the entire project or just the disposal of the material at the Petroleum Waste Inc. site near the Kern County farming community of Buttonwillow was not clear Friday.

“We have to study the opinion to decide if that’s what it means,” said Deputy Atty. Gen Susan Durbin, who represented the health services agency. Describing Croskey’s opinion as “very dense and carefully written,” Durbin said it “will take some studying to decide whether to appeal. It’s really their (health services) decision as to what we’re going to do next.”

The McColl dump was created when oil companies producing aviation fuel during World War II deposited waste in an area which was then mostly rural. Now the site is under a portion of a golf course and is bordered on three sides by upper middle-class homes.

Contaminated Soil

State health officials have determined the soil there contains sulfuric acid, benzene and arsenic and the fumes contain sulfur dioxide, which has caused some residents to suffer from headaches, nausea and respiratory problems.

The cleanup, with 90% of the money coming from the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund, had been scheduled to begin Thursday. It was expected that 40 truckloads of waste a day for 18 months would be transported from McColl to Buttonwillow.

However, on May 8, Kern County officials obtained a court order temporarily barring disposal of the wastes at the dump site, 35 miles west of Bakersfield, pending a hearing on the need for an environmental review.

Claimed Report Was Done

The state contended that a complete environmental impact report had been done on the Buttonwillow site three years ago when it was given its federal permit.

Noting that “we’re very gratified” with Croskey’s ruling Friday, Kern County Counsel Ralph B. Jordan said: “We, of course, look forward to the Department of Health Services immediately starting the processing of the environmental review that will set out in writing the final plan, whatever it is, for accomplishing whatever it is they want to do. The county will act in good faith and cooperate to the fullest to make the process work.”

In Sacramento, Mike Golden of the Department of Health Services, said there was no way of telling how long the cleanup could be delayed by Friday’s ruling.

“Until something else happens, we have to comply with the judge’s decision, which probably means doing an environmental impact report,” he said. “That could take six months, but in reality it could very well be longer.”