Settlement near on cleaning up Wyoming dump.

Disney among 14 California companies involved in case

Walt Disney Co., which unwittingly contributed to create an illegal hazardous waste dump site in Wyoming, is one of 14 California companies which will settle with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this month to clean up the site, according to Disney and EPA officials.

Disney will pay its share and also shoulder paying the share of other companies which generated waste dumped at the site, even though the company "acted in good faith at all times" in trying to dispose of solvents used at Disneyland in a safe and legal way, said Richard Clair, vice president and counsel for Disneyland.

Disney and 14 other companies which generated waste dumped at the site have voluntarily stepped forward and formed a committee to negotiate a settlement with the EPA, Clair said. Disney and the other companies on the committee may end up picking up the tab for cleaning up the site for other waste generating companies, as well as the site operator and the waste hauling company, Clair said.

Burbank-based Disney was one of about 80 Southern California companies which hired San Fernando Valley-based Ken's Oil Co. to dispose of oil, which is considered a hazardous waste, said Ken Schreuder, district supervisor for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Apparently, unknown to the companies, Ken's Oil was passing the waste onto Mountain Air Co. which was illegally dumping it at its facility at LaBarge Wyo.

Don Thayer, owner of Mountain Air, had hundreds of thousands of gallons of waste oils sitting in his one-man refinery plant when the EPA sent an emergency team to shut the operation down two years ago because it posed a potential threat to human life and the underground water supply, Schreuder said. Thayer was operating his "quote-unquote refinery, and I use the term loosely" without proper state and federal permits, Schreuder said.

Thayer was supposed to refine the oil into a type of gasoline, but there were hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil collecting on the property and the oil cans were leaking in many cases, Schreuder said. Thayer did not return a phone inquiry and Ken's Oil officials could not be reached for comment.

Now, Disney and 14 other Southern California companies on the committee, called under EPA law the potentially responsible parties (PRP) committee, have agreed to pay for the clean-up, which will cost at least $3.3 million, said Jeff Groy, attorney for Textron Inc., the largest generator of waste at the site. It is not yet known if the groundwater under the site is contaminated but if it is, the clean-up would cost substantially more, Groy said.

Altogether, more than 80 L.A. area companies, many small companies, used Ken's Oil to transport hazardous waste. Textron, Disney and 34 other companies each generated more than 2,000 gallons of oil which was transported to the site and are considered Tier One generators, or companies having the greatest responsibility in the clean-up, Groy said. But 10 of those companies have refused to participate in the settlement, he said.

The committee has already incurred legal expenses as well as the cost of retaining Acton, Mass.-based ENSR Consulting & Engineering to clean up the site.

Groy, Clair and EPA officials declined to name the other companies on the committee or the companies which have refused to help pay for the clean-up.

Disney will sue any of the companies that refuse to participate in paying for the clean-up, Clair said. It is already suing Ken's Oil for breach of contract, he said. Ken's Oil is reportedly in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

"The EPA has agreed to continue to put pressure on these other companies and we're hoping that some of these will get in line and join the group," Clair said.

Groy of Textron said the pressure could take the form of federal fines of $25,000 a day until they take responsibility.

But fight now, Disney, Textron and the 13 other companies on the committee are taking responsibility for the clean-up, Clair said.

Neither Thayer, owner of Mountain Air or Ken's Oil are expected to pay their share of the settlement, Groy said. "They don't have any money," he said.

In addition to having to pay for the clean-up, 15 companies including Disney were forced to pay administrative fines two years ago totaling $1.7 million for violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, said John Works, an RCRA enforcement officer at EPA. Disney paid the highest fine, signing an order agreeing to pay the EPA $550,000 and train all its hazardous waste personnel at Disneyland about federal and state regulations regarding the disposal of hazardous waste.

Clair said it was unfair that Disney paid the highest fine, noting that the EPA admitted that Disney was not aware its waste was being dumped illegally and that Textron, not Disney, was the top waste generator.

Textron was not required to pay any fine, Groy said, adding he didn't know why.

Maureen O' Reilly, enforcement officer at the EPA, said that under the law it doesn't matter that Disney was ignorant.

"Superfund law is a very unforgiving statute," she said. "The burden is on the business community, the generators, the transporters and the site operators. A company can with the best intentions pick a transporter for hazardous waste, and the company ends up with the liability."