CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : FULLERTON : Toxic Dump Remedy Proposed

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a remedy for the McColl toxic dump that would leave poisonous sludge in the ground, detoxify only about half of it and seal the rest with concrete walls and a thick cover. The large toxic waste site, used by oil companies for disposal of refinery wastes in the 1940s, has haunted a neighborhood next to a Fullerton country club for years. Thursday’s announcement signals a dramatic turnabout by the EPA, which declared in 1989 that the safest option was to excavate and incinerate the waste at McColl. But after launching a review, the EPA now says digging up the chemicals is too risky because of sulfur-dioxide fumes. Identified as a major toxic threat 14 years ago, McColl was declared a Superfund cleanup site in 1982.