California Department of Toxic v. Alco Pacific, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Alco operated a lead processing facility on the site from approximately 1950 to 1990. During that period Alco refined CALIFORNIA DEP’T TOXIC v. ALCO PACIFIC 15261 and reclaimed lead from raw materials acquired from thou- sands of sources. These materials included lead ingots, auto- mobile batteries, scrap metal, wheel weights, dross and slag.

The latter two materials are particularly important in the context of the instant appeal. “Dross” is the material that rises to the surface of melted metal that is not perfectly pure. Dross typically is skimmed off the molten metal and stored for later use or disposal. Depending on the care taken in skimming, the dross thus removed may contain a significant percentage of the metal itself. “Slag” also results from the separation of impurities from metal during the smelting and refining pro- cess. Alco purchased high lead content dross and slag that were by-products of other lead processors’ operations. Mate- rial was deemed to have high lead content if it contained approximately thirty percent recoverable lead. The price Alco paid for the dross, slag and other raw materials it purchased was based upon an analysis of the…