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# Water contamination settlement approved
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/water-contamination-settlement-approved/
- Published: 2003-12-24T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:23:06.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*City Hall gets $312M*

*By Daily Press staff*

A seven-year legal dispute ended on Monday after a judge approved a $300 million settlement between City Hall and three oil companies for contaminating Santa Monica’s water.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Sunvold approved “good faith” settlements between Shell Oil Company, ChevronTexaco and Exxon Mobil. The settlement is valued at $312.85 million, which includes a commitment to provide the city with a new water treatment facility, as well as $92.5 million in cash.

A new treatment facility, the first of its kind, will be built specifically to clean up the city’s water at the Charnock Well Field in West LA, the city’s main water source. The settlement ensures that the oil companies will pay for all costs to construct, operate and maintain the treatment plant, which officials expect will clean the city’s water supply by 2008.

The court also approved separate settlements between City Hall and Union Oil Company (Unocal) for $5 million and with ConocoPhillips, on behalf of its subsidiary Tosco, for $6 million. City Hall previously settled with Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) for $9.75 million, Ultramar for $4.5 million and Conoco for $4 million.

Only one major oil industry defendant remains in the lawsuit — Lyondell Chemical Company, which is the successor to ARCO Chemical. Lyondell, along with the other companies, is a manufacturer of Methyl tertiary Butyl Ether, a gasoline additive that leaked into the city’s groundwater in 1996, forcing several wells to be closed, according to city officials.

The court rejected Lyondell’s challenge that the $312 million value placed on the settlement by Shell, ChevronTexaco and Exxon Mobil was too low and that Lyondell should be dismissed from the lawsuit because it caused the city no harm.

In rejecting the claims, the court noted that the settlement was proper and was the product of negotiations conducted “through mediators, at arms length, in an adversarial proceeding.” With respect to Lyondell’s assertions that it should be let out of the lawsuit, the court stated that Lyondell “can be held liable to (the city) in strict liability for the manufacturing of a defective product (MtBE). The fact is, Lyondell placed the product into commerce. Liability can be found from that even if it didn’t transport it, put it in pipes, own any stations, etc. Second, Lyondell can be held liable for failure to warn.”

No date has been set yet by the court on when the trial between the city and Lyondell would occur. Assistant City Attorney Joe Lawrence said he expects it will be sometime early next year. nl< 4,n\~f 4,Y,&n 4, 4,ed b 4,givi 4

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 24, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122403.pdf?ref=smdp.com)