EPA announces agreements with 29 in clean-up effort

SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A $2 million settlement with 290 small parties, called de minimis parties, for the Casmalia Resources Superfund Site was announced Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

CRSS is a former hazardous waste disposal facility that accepted approximately 5.6 billion pounds of waste from nearly 10,000 generators between 1974 and 1989.

To clean up from generators of hazardous waste disposed at the site from the former owner-operator, more than $110 million has been collected to date.

This is the ninth settlement of de minimis parties at this site, located approximately 10 miles southwest of the City of Santa Maria in Santa Barbara County.

In the settlement, 290 parties are required to pay a portion of the estimated $284 million total cost of cleaning up the site, which will resolve their liability for more than 23 million pounds of waste collectively.

Also resolved by the settlement is the parties' liability for potential natural resource damage claims by various government agencies, including claims for threats to endangered species and other habitats.

More than $2 million will be collected by EPA in response costs, which equals approximately nine cents per pound of waste.