EPA Asks 50 Firms to Settle Ground Water Suit : Cleanup: If Burbank companies agree on costs, they will be exempt from Lockheed lawsuit against them. At issue is financial responsibility for city well pollution.

In an unusual move, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials on Friday encouraged 50 firms they say helped pollute the ground water in Burbank to settle with the government for cleanup costs and thereby exempt themselves from a lawsuit against them by the Lockheed Corp.

Lockheed, which is currently on the hook for the majority of the Gargantuan Superfund cleanup, has demanded financial contributions--ranging from $50,000 to $15 million per company--from dozens of firms it says also polluted the water.

” . . . We’re trying to bring in some of the liable parties and sign them up to long-term contracts instead of letting Lockheed decide their fate,” said Thomas P. Mintz, EPA associate regional counsel. “By definition, we’re in charge, and the Lockheed suit becomes a secondary matter.”

Companies that settled with Lockheed would still have to contend with the EPA, but not vice versa, Mintz said. Under the provisions of the federal Superfund program, which requires polluters to fund the cleanup of toxic waste sites, companies that settle with the EPA are exempt from third-party lawsuits.

At issue is the financial responsibility for purging ground water supplies of chemical solvents that have seeped into the vast reservoir beneath the San Fernando Valley and into Burbank’s municipal water supply wells, which were shut down in 1986 after pollution was found.

In 1991, Lockheed entered an agreement with the EPA to design, build and run a ground water treatment system in Burbank until the year 2000. Lockheed is currently finishing construction of the system, which will continuously cleanse 12,000 gallons of water per minute for up to 20 years. The company expects the cost of the system to exceed $172 million, and is seeking contributions from the other companies.

Meanwhile, the EPA is seeking money from 50 companies--including Lockheed--for the period after the year 2000, to pay for running the system until at least 2015, which is necessary to cleanse the water.

Pierce O’Donell, an attorney representing Lockheed, welcomed the EPA’s move, saying it will help take the financial burden off the defense giant in the future.

“If other parties come in with and settle with the EPA, that will reduce our costs, and will achieve the same purpose as our lawsuit,” he said.

David Goodreau, chairman of the California Industrial Leadership Council, a small-business advocacy group, welcomed the EPA’s move--but for different reasons.

“Lockheed literally tried to intimidate these companies into paying up or having to face the wrath of their lawyers,” said Goodreau. “I would be surprised if anyone turns the EPA deal down.”

O’Donell said Lockheed has gone out of its way to be fair to smaller companies, many of which it helped keep in business during the recession by awarding them small contracts, and warned those who see the EPA as a white knight.

“The EPA is the real 800-pound gorilla, not Lockheed,” O’Donell said. “I’m not saying the EPA is not fair, but there is no reason to believe they are fairer than we.”