FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CIV
April 30, 1996                                     (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

       UNITED STATES SUES TO COMPEL CLEANUP OF UNDERGROUND
      GASOLINE SPILL ON ONONDAGA NATION LANDS NEAR SYRACUSE
 

          WASHINGTON, D.C. --  The United States has sued a New
York service station and its owner to force them to comply with a
federal order requiring them to clean up 10,000 gallons of
gasoline that leaked from the station's underground storage
tanks.  The leaked gasoline polluted an underground source of
drinking water used by a family of Native Americans of the
Onondaga Nation, near Syracuse, New York.  Acute exposure to
gasoline, which contains benzene, a carcinogen, can also cause
nausea, dizziness, convulsions and coma.     
     The civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in
Syracuse, New York asserts that defendants Oliver R. Hill and the
O.R. Hill Fuel Company, Inc. failed to comply with a March 1995
EPA order requiring the clean up on Onondaga Nation lands.  In
addition, the complaint seeks civil penalties of up to $5000 per
day per defendant for each day the EPA order was violated.  Mr.
Hill was the owner and operator of a now defunct service station
located off Route 11 on Onondaga Nation lands just south of
Syracuse.
                              (MORE)
     This environmental enforcement action was announced by Lois
J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice
Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division; Thomas
J. Maroney, United States Attorney for the Northern District of
New York; and Jeanne M. Fox, EPA's Regional Administrator in New
York City.
     "This action sends a clear signal that those who ignore EPA
orders to clean up the pollution they caused will be punished,"
said Ms. Schiffer.
       U.S. Attorney Maroney emphasized that "disregard of
environmental laws is intolerable, and the United States will
seek substantial penalties and swift injunctive relief to avert
such harm."  
     Regional Administrator Fox advised that "exposure to
gasoline presents a significant hazard to human health, and EPA
is working to help ensure that members of the Onondaga Nation are
protected from further health threats pending completion of this
cleanup."       
       Due to Mr. Hill's failure to comply with the EPA order to
clean up the site, the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation has undertaken removal of the gasoline and
installation of a water treatment system.  In addition, affected
members of the Onondaga Nation who reside near the site have been
provided with an alternate source of water for drinking and other
household uses.      
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