The State - News from Feb. 16, 1989

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the best way to rid the McColl dump in Fullerton of tons of toxic waste is to excavate and burn the acidic sludge on site, a proposal that drew immediate criticism from nearby homeowners. EPA officials, along with officials from the state Department of Health Services, also recommended setting up an incinerator at or near the dump to burn an estimated 150,000 tons of contaminated refinery waste and oil drilling muds at a cost of about $117 million. An alternative plan to excavate the noxious sludge and haul it to a Texas facility for treatment would cost $160 to $500 million, they said. But questions surfaced immediately about whether burning McColl waste locally would violate federal air quality standards in Southern California, a heavily polluted area that is under a strict federal mandate to meet those requirements.