James B. Stringfellow Jr., whose Riverside County rock quarry became one of the nation's leading symbols of toxic waste dumping woes, has tentatively agreed to an $8-million settlement with residents of the nearby community of Glen Avon.
The agreement, subject to approval in court and by 3,800 Glen Avon residents, is the latest in a long-running liability lawsuit over the Stringfellow Acid Pits, scheduled for trial in early November.
Three months ago, Alumax Inc., a Georgia-based aluminum manufacturer responsible for dumping chromium and other toxics into the landfill, tentatively agreed to pay $18 million to the residents' group. Still named in the lawsuit are sixteen other defendants, including the state, Riverside County and 12 firms that dumped solvents, acids, pesticides and metals into unlined ponds on the 20-acre site.
"We're very happy given the circumstances of his limited resources," Melvyn I. Weiss, a New York attorney who represents the residents, said Tuesday. "I don't know what the impact is on anybody else in the case, but it's a result we're very happy with."