Settlement Reached in Toxic Waste Cleanup

The 10th in a series of settlements has been reached regarding the cleanup of the Casmalia Resources Superfund Site, a former toxic-waste dump that accrued 5.6 billion pounds of hazardous materials from 10,000 sources between 1973 and 1989. Under the deal, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 337 parties will pay a combined $1.4 million for their share of the effort. That includes Santa Cruz County, FedEx, Hershey Foods, Target, and the Orcutt Unified School District. The EPA estimates the cleanup will cost $284 million, about $116 million of which has been collected.