FILLMORE : Texaco Reaches Accord on Refinery Cleanup

Texaco Inc. has agreed to pay an estimated $4 million to $7 million to clean contaminated ground water beneath an abandoned Fillmore refinery that the company operated for 30 years, federal officials said Tuesday.

A consent decree outlining terms of the agreement was filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday, but will not become final until a 30-day public review period has expired.

The 40-acre site was contaminated by hazardous chemicals such as benzene, arsenic and cadmium when Texaco discharged oil wastes into unlined pits, a common industry practice until the refinery closed in 1950. The practice is no longer allowed. The former refinery was declared a Superfund cleanup site in 1988 by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Under terms of the proposed settlement, Texaco will construct a system to remove ground water, filter it through activated carbon and return it, said Michael Montgomery, an EPA Superfund project manager.

Montgomery said contamination from the refinery, which was in operation from about 1920 to 1950, was limited to 60 acres. He said the potential for chemicals to spread to a deeper water table used for drinking water warranted its Superfund status.

The contamination was discovered in 1980 by Texaco, which then excavated 33,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the main sump pit in 1986, Montgomery said. The company has spent $2 million so far to clean up the site and test for contamination, he said.

Texaco spokeswoman Barbara Kornylo said Tuesday the company is pleased to reach an agreement on the site. “Texaco has been working very hard to voluntarily clean up the soil at the former refinery,” Kornylo said.

Montgomery said it may be as long as 15 to 20 years before ground water at the site is clean enough to meet all state and federal standards.