California Secures New Settlement with 75 Companies to Fund Hazardous Waste Landfill Cleanup

California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a second consent decree that adds roughly 75 companies and entities to a settlement aimed at financing the ongoing containment of the Vine Hill Complex, a former hazardous-waste treatment, storage and disposal site in Contra Costa County. The landfill stopped accepting off-site waste in 1987 and was officially closed in the late 1990s, yet monitoring has detected contaminants such as arsenic, lead, nickel, benzene and chloroform in groundwater.

The original 2021 decree covered 57 parties; the new agreement mirrors that structure, absolving participants of liability in exchange for contributions calculated at $117.78 per ton of waste, based on over $175 million in projected post-closure costs. Calistoga Holdings, linked to Calpine Corporation, will pay the highest amount—around $768,000 for 6,000 tons—while Northern California Power Agency and Varian Medical Systems also face multi-hundred-thousand-dollar obligations.

Smaller contributors like Six Flags, Texas Instruments and Timex will each remit roughly $1,500. The settlement must be filed for a 30-day public comment period before court approval.