Cleanup of McColl Superfund Site Begins

Nearly 14 years after the 22-acre McColl waste dump was designated a federal Superfund cleanup site, construction of an impermeable grass-topped cap to cover it has begun.

A ceremonial groundbreaking took place Wednesday at the World War II-era toxic dump with representatives of the federal government and oil companies launching the one-year effort to cover 100,000 cubic yards of petroleum waste at a cost of $39 million.

“Some have doubted that this day would ever come,” said Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Fullerton), who played a key role in calling attention to the contamination. “I am happy today to be able to participate in this historic moment--the beginning of the end of the 17-year McColl saga.”

The site has long been the target of intense criticism from area residents who claimed that odors emanating from the dump caused health problems and diminished property values. But on Wednesday, some residents praised the plan to cover the hazardous waste with high-density polyethylene, topped with grass.

“This ends up being the ultimate and finest of solutions,” said David Bushey, president of the Fullerton Hills Community Assn. “We’d be quite derelict and selfish to ask for more. There will be few dump [sites] around that could match it when it’s done.”

The dump, which is on the north side of Rosecrans Avenue and west of Sunny Ridge Drive, will be covered with a 5-foot-thick cap that officials say will lock in the waste and keep water out.

The cap contains seven layers of soil, sand, a clay liner, a gas extraction system, a permanent seal, a flexible cushion and polyethylene. The cap is designed to block gases from escaping. Should odors seep out, area residents would be relocated to local hotels and apartments until the problem is repaired, project coordinator Al Hendricker said. Construction on the site already has started.

“This is the best and safest way to go for now,” said Charles S. McAuley, who owns 14.7 acres of the McColl site and the adjacent Los Coyotes Country Club and Golf Course.

Completion of the project is expected in one year. The McColl Site Group, which includes Shell, Atlantic-Richfield, Texaco and Union Oil of California, had been ordered to clean up the dump.

The site was used in the early 1940s as a disposal facility for waste sludge. Over the years, the waste was covered by oil drilling muds and topsoils, but it seeped periodically to the surface via fissures.

The cleanup delay has been due, in part, to conflicts between oil companies and the federal government over who would pay for the work and how to accomplish it.