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LOS ANGELES – An ocean pollution trial a decade in the making has ended with Montrose Chemical Corp. and two other companies agreeing to pay an undisclosed amount to compensate Californians for damages linked to a giant DDT deposit in the ocean off Los Angeles. 

The deal came Friday after nearly a week of testimony in what was one of the nation’s largest and longest-standing environmental cases. The government was seeking roughly $150 million for damages to natural resources. 

U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real ordered that the agreement between the government and industry remain confidential until a consent decree outlining the terms is filed by Dec. 15, and attorneys for both sides declined to discuss the terms of the agreement. 

But the deal came after several government witnesses testified about the effects of half a century of contamination, and after Montrose suffered a major defeat when Real ruled that the company’s leading scientific consultant did not qualify as an expert on key issues. 

The issue of whether Montrose or the federal Superfund must pay for cleaning up the pesticide contaminating about 17 square miles of ocean floor off Palos Verdes Peninsula remains before a federal appeals court. 

The non-jury trial stemmed from a lawsuit filed in 1990 over pollution which took place from 1947 to 1971. 

Defense lawyers acknowledged the dumping of DDT into the ocean, but argued those actions were legal and did not significantly harm marine life, fishing or public health. 

But the government presented detailed testimony from several biologists and geologists who described the extent of the DDT on the ocean floor and the reproductive damage to eagles and falcons. 

After hearing that testimony Real called a weeklong recess, during which time the two sides completed the settlement. 

The 100 tons of DDT at the center of the case is the largest known deposit in the world, and the area is on the federal Superfund list of the nation’s most hazardous chemical sites. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is experimenting with a dredging operation in which tons of silt from Long Beach Harbor are being poured into the ocean to cover the deposit. 

DDT, which was widely used in the United States until it was banned about 30 years ago, is linked to cancer and reproductive problems in humans and continues to contaminate fish and kill bald eagle chicks. Montrose, now defunct except for the lawsuit, was the world’s largest manufacturer of the compound. 

Except for claims in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the government was seeking more money from Montrose and its co-defendants than in any other case involving damages to natural resources. At times during the 10 years, Montrose appeared close to victory. In 1995, the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk, but it was later reinstated by an appeals court. 

In addition to Montrose, the settlement involves Aventis CropScience USA Inc., formerly Rhone-Poulenc, and Atkemix Thirty-Seven Inc. Another defendant, Chris-Craft Industries, which is a 50 percent shareholder in Montrose, has not settled. Real has yet to rule whether the company is liable. 

Three federal and three state environmental agencies, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will decide how to use whatever money comes from Friday’s settlement after a public review process.