4 Oil Companies, Landowner Held Liable for Cleanup Costs at McColl Site

After years of fighting over who should pay for the cleanup of the McColl toxic dump site in Fullerton, a federal judge has ruled that four major oil companies and the property owner are financially liable.

U.S. District Judge Robert Kelleher ruled in Los Angeles on Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California will be able to recover past and future cleanup costs at the site. Exactly how much money that will involve has yet to be decided by the court.

To date, the state and EPA have spent over $25 million, with additional cleanup costs estimated at $80 million.

The ruling was hailed by EPA officials, who sued the oil companies and the owner of the McColl Superfund site considered one of the nation’s most dangerous.

“We’re elated over this decision,” said attorney Greg Ritter, who represented the EPA.

The parties responsible for the cleanup are, the court said: Shell Oil Co., Atlantic Richfield Co., Union Oil Co. of California, Texaco Inc. and McAuley LCX Corp., which owns the land at Rosecrans Avenue and Sunny Ridge Drive.

Bill Duchie, a spokesman for the oil companies--known collectively as the McColl Site Group--said the companies have not decided whether to appeal the judge’s decision.

“We believe the government should bear the majority or all of the costs,” he said, explaining the pollution resulted from work done for the government during World War II.

Residents, who are frustrated over the delays, said Thursday that they are not concerned with who pays for the cleanup as long as it is done as quickly as possible. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) said the cleanup should go ahead regardless of any court appeals.

Jeff Zelikson, EPA regional hazardous waste management official, said the ruling “confirms what EPA and the community have known for some time--that these oil companies dumped their waste at the site and are responsible for cleaning it up.”

William F. Soo Hoo, director of the state Department of Toxic Substance Control, said the ruling “means the companies that caused the contamination, and not taxpayers of California, must pay for the cleanup.”

The site, a World War II-era refinery waste dump, was placed on the federal Superfund list in 1983. But for years, cleanup plans have been tangled in bureaucratic, technical and legal problems.

In June, the oil companies began a two-year pre-cleanup study on the 22-acre site. The companies wanted to confirm the feasibility of the EPA’s proposed remedy to clean up the black, tar-like, toxic sludge, which has been oozing from the ground for 50 years.

Nearby residents have complained for years that the sludge emits a foul, rotten-egg smell and causes nausea, headaches, eye irritation and other problems.

The tentative cleanup plan calls for neutralizing and solidifying about 55,300 cubic yards of soft waste and capping it. The remaining waste, all farther underground, has solidified into a hard, coal-like material. All the sludge will be surrounded by underground walls.

Resident Debra Bushey said the issue of who pays “really doesn’t concern us. What is important to us is that somebody is out there working to clean it up.”

Resident A. Richard Olquin said he hopes the continuing litigation will not slow recent progress at the site, where workers in white protective suits are studying the toxic characteristics of 12 different waste pits on the parcel.

“I just hope that things keep moving in the right direction,” he said.

That sentiment was echoed by Rep. Royce, whose district includes the dump site.

Royce’s spokeswoman, Linda LeQuire, said that “no litigation or appeals process (should) slow down the positive steps finally being taken to clean up the McColl dump.

In his ruling, the judge rejected the oil companies’ argument that the dumping was an “act of war,” which would have exempted them from liability under the Superfund law.

The judge must also determine how much money the oil companies and property owners are required to pay for the cleanup. The EPA contends that they should pay for it all, while the McColl Site Group claims that the government should be liable for most or all of the costs because federal officials allegedly were aware and did not object to the dumping.

“The McColl site was created as the direct result of the manufacturing of aviation fuel produced during World War II at the government’s direction to support the war effort,” Duchie said. “. . . Industry cannot absorb the millions of dollars of cleanup costs for activities undertaken on behalf of the government during time of war.”

Despite the ruling, Duchie said the McColl Site Group will continue to work vigorously on the cleanup with the EPA during litigation.

“We’re not going to let litigation interfere,” Duchie said. “We believe the current site activity is off to a good start.”

The EPA estimates that the cleanup will take four to six years. When finished, the area could be used as a golf course or park, according to federal environmental officials.