SUPERFUND—Polluters on Hook for Baldwin Park Superfund Cleanup

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After years of uncertainty that clouded the business atmosphere in the San Gabriel Valley, polluters of the massive Baldwin Park Superfund site and area water purveyors say they are finally close to a deal to clean up the mess.

The agreement would require the water producers to design, build and operate treatment systems that would remove rocket fuel and other chemicals from the groundwater while also treating the water to meet drinking standards. The polluters would simply foot the bill, rather than participate in the cleanup.

In an indication of how far the negotiations have moved along, Aerojet-General Corp. and six other companies have turned over $4.1 million to the water producers for costs associated with a treatment plant already constructed.

It’s the first significant chunk of money to change hands between the two sides since the contamination was discovered more than 20 years ago near Aerojet’s Azusa plant, where the company built rocket engines in the 1940s and 1950s.

“I think (the water community) was finally able to close ranks, and all the forces came to bear on the issue,” said Mike Whitehead, president of the San Gabriel Valley Co., which estimates it has spent $12 million to treat contamination at its own wells.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has estimated cleanup costs could reach $200 million for the site, which stretches some seven miles in length and up to a mile in width and has closed more than a dozen drinking water wells while threatening others.

The two sides set a Feb. 1 date to reach a final agreement, including crafting a binding arbitration provision to handle the issue of past treatment costs borne by the public and private water producers.

“We are confident we will get an agreement in just a matter of weeks,” said Rosemary Younts, an Aerojet spokeswoman.

Joining in the settlement are the Azusa Land Reclamation Corp., Hartwell Corp., Huffy Corp., Oil & Solvent Process Co., Reichhold, Inc. and Wynn Oil Co.

Thirteen other companies deemed responsible for the pollution are not taking part in the settlement. The EPA expects to take cash payments from four of the parties, but the others will likely be subject to civil litigation.

Meanwhile, all 19 polluters, as well as several water producers, are already facing lawsuits from thousands of San Gabriel Valley residents and their families who claim they were sickened or that their loved ones died from drinking contaminated water.

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