The Region : $1-Million McColl Dump Payment OKd

Six oil companies have agreed to pay $1 million to 121 families who live near the McColl hazardous waste site in Fullerton, said attorney Jeffrey A. Matz. Matz, who represents more than 100 families who claim their health and property values have been damaged by the dump, said the settlement was offered by Aminoil, Atlantic Richfield, Getty, Shell, Texaco and Unocal oil companies. The offer, he said, is not an admission of liability by the companies. The six companies had been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as producers of the waste in the 1940s. Last January, 78 families in the Meadows neighborhood, just north of McColl, settled a similar suit with Chevron for $400,000.