The federal Environmental Protection Agency has finalized cleanup plans for a more than four decade old toxic waste site in Santa Barbara County. The EPA developed a five year, $60 million dollar plan to remove contaminated soil and groundwater from the Casmalia Superfund site.
The 250 acre facility southwest of Santa Maria was a commercial hazardous waste management facility in the 1970’s and 80’s. An estimated 5.6 billion pounds of wastes were sent to the site until it was shut down in 1989.
The end result was contaminated air, soil, surface water, and groundwater.
The EPA stabilized the site to reduce the risk to surround areas. Now, it’s moving forward with a plan to remove some contaminated soil and liquids, treating other contamination on site, and setting up better monitoring to ensure safety.
The cleanup is being funded by a settlement with more than 50 companies which sent large amounts of waste to the facility.
