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The U.S. government is only liable for a small portion of the clean-up costs at the McColl Superfund site in Fullerton, CA according to a federal appeals court ruling Feb. 12. Instead, the four oil companies who actually produced the waste deposited at the site will pay most of the $100 million bill.

Shell Oil. Co., Union Oil Co. of California, BP and ChevronTexaco Corp. used the site as a mutual collection area for spent aviation fuel and other waste created from high-octane gas production. The companies made the fuel to supply the U.S. military during World War II. The site, now a golf course, contained approximately 100,000 cubic yards of hazardous waste.

The cleanup of McColl was completed in 1997 but the question of who should pay for the work has been tied up in litigation for 12 years. A Los Angeles federal judge ruled previously that the U.S. government was liable for most of the cleanup costs but the federal appellate court overturned that decision. Now the U.S. government has agreed to pay $5.5 million of the $100 million price tag.

Judge William A. Fletcher wrote, “The undisputed facts indicate that the oil companies…dumped acid waste both before and after the war, that they dumped acid waste from operations other than Avgas production at the McColl site and that they were not compelled by the government to dump waste in any particular manner.”

Cynthia Burch, a lawyer who defended the oil companies in the original case, did not return phone calls or E-mails.

Timothy Patterson, a deputy attorney general for California who sued the oil companies, said the appellate ruling was a significant development for ultimate accountability.