Escondido May End Up Ahead on Waste Cleanup

The city of Escondido has agreed to pay its share of the cost of cleaning up the notorious Chatham Brothers toxic waste site--but, in the end, may make money on the deal.

The city has acknowledged that it contributed to the toxic site--albeit in a very small way--because years ago, for several months, it sent dirty automotive oil to the onetime recycling center in a rural neighborhood of southwestern Escondido.

The operators of the recycling business simply dumped the unreclaimed materials--ranging from automotive oils to dry-cleaning solvents--into the ground, thrusting the 5-acre parcel onto the state and federal EPA Superfund toxic rosters.

State officials have identified 94 companies, and the city of Escondido itself, for contributing, unwittingly or not, to the toxic site. They want them to now pay for its cleanup, estimated to cost $35 million or more when all the bills are figured.

But those so-called responsible parties have said they’d rather do the cleanup work themselves--more quickly than the state and perhaps at a cost of only about $20 million if they arrange for the work privately.

The city of Escondido thought it wouldn’t have to pay for any of the cleanup because it had offered to chemically treat the toxic water to be pumped out of the site at its own waste-water treatment plant. For that good will, City Atty. David Chapman said, the city hoped to avoid being tagged with any of the cleanup costs.

But instead, the other parties said they would sue the city if it didn’t pay its fair share, Chapman said, which is estimated at less than 1.5% of the total bill, reflecting the city’s relatively minor role in contributing to the toxicity.

On Wednesday, the City Council said that rather than risk being sued by the other responsible parties--and stand to be clobbered as a deep-pocket source of cleanup funds--it would be cheaper to pay its share of the cleanup.

An initial check for about $114,000 will be in the mail, the city said, representing the city’s share of the $9 million so far spent by the state toward the cleanup.

If the other responsible parties and the state agree that the cleanup will be done privately, the city will then pay its share of that balance--or an estimated quarter of a million dollars, Chapman said.

But the city may end up recouping some, if not all, of its cleanup costs, the city attorney said, because the city has withdrawn its offer to treat the toxic water for free at the municipal treatment plant.

Instead, Chapman said, the city will send its own bill to the responsible parties for the cost of treating the tainted water. “We’re talking about many thousands of gallons of water. We’ve heard other agencies have charged up to a dollar a gallon. We may end up ahead of the game.”

The master cleanup agreement between the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control and the private parties is expected to be approved within a few weeks, officials say.

Rich Varenchik, spokesman for the state’s toxic control agency, said that once both sides agree on a plan, the toxic ground water from the site can start being pumped out next year. That process can take months if not years, he said.

The site, at Gamble Lane and Bernardo Avenue, was purchased by the Chatham family in 1941 and used as a petroleum-distribution and oil-recovery processing plant. Kerosene and hydraulic oils were processed there starting in 1948, and cleaning solvents were accepted there for recycling starting in 1965.