REGION : 3 Cities to Pay $9 Million in Landfill Cleanup Case

Three Southeast-area cities have agreed to pay $9 million to help clean up a 190-acre landfill in Monterey Park where they and other local governments dumped tons of toxic waste for decades.

After more than five years of litigation, Compton, Lynwood and Montebello have agreed to give their share of the cleanup cost to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Eleven other cities, the county and Caltrans are also part of the settlement.

Montebello, which is struggling financially after pouring millions of dollars into the Orange County investment pool, must pay nearly $5 million. The city’s insurance is covering about 77% of that, City Administrator Richard Torres said.

“Nobody wants to pay anything out but I think the settlement is about as fair and equitable as it could be,” Torres said.

Compton will pay $2.5 million. The city’s insurance and the waste hauler, Murcole Rubbish Service, will pay about 78% of that, Deputy City Atty. Cal Saunders said.

Lynwood must pay $1.7 million. City officials were unavailable for comment.

The EPA has estimated that the total cleanup cost could reach $650 million over three decades.

Under the settlement filed Dec. 28 in federal court, the cities will no longer be liable for the Operating Industries toxic waste site after paying fixed amounts, said attorney Timothy P. Gallagher ,who represented the municipalities.

After more than 100 companies and public entities, including Mobil, Exxon and General Motors, paid the EPA $205 million to clean up the dump, they sued the cities, county, state Department of Transportation and 18 waste-hauling firms in 1989 to force them to share the costs.

Five years later, the 14 cities reached a tentative agreement to pay $32 million. The December settlement called for the municipalities to give the money directly to the EPA.

The 11 other cities that signed the settlement are Alhambra, Bell, Cudahy, City of Commerce, Maywood, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, South Gate, South Pasadena and Temple City. Alhambra is paying the most, $8.5 million.

About 170 companies dumped industrial waste at the Operating Industries site from 1948 to 1984. An estimated 22 to 31 tons of solid waste and more than 300 million gallons of liquid waste were dumped there, including such cancer-causing substances as vinyl chloride and trichloroethylene.

The site was added to the Superfund priority list of toxic sites in 1986. A site is placed on the Landfill Superfund list when the EPA determines that it poses a long-term threat to public health or the environment.