FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1997 DOJ (202) 514-2008
EPA (202) 260-4358
TDD (202) 514-1888
EPA, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PROPOSE NEW POLICY TO PROVIDE LEGAL
PROTECTION TO COMPANIES AND MUNICIPALITIES THAT SENT ORDINARY
TRASH TO SUPERFUND SITES
New Policy is Latest Among a String of Administrative Reforms
Designed To Make The Superfund Program Work Better
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new proposed federal policy will
protect companies and municipalities that sent ordinary municipal
trash to landfills from lawsuits by polluters that dumped
hazardous industrial wastes at the same landfills, the United
States announced today. The proposed policy was developed by the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (also known as Superfund) requires companies that
dumped hazardous substances to pay to clean them up. EPA has
long had a policy against pursuing parties for Superfund
liability that disposed of ordinary municipal solid waste. In
some cases, however, companies being pursued by EPA for dumping
industrial wastes have in turn sued large numbers of companies
and municipalities that disposed of only municipal solid waste
(mostly common household trash) in the same landfill, in an
effort to spread their Superfund liability among many parties.
Under the proposed policy, the government will address this
problem by offering settlements to companies and municipalities
that disposed only of municipal solid waste at Superfund sites.
Such Superfund settlements provide legal protection against
lawsuits by other parties.
EPA is also proposing guidelines for settlements with
municipalities that owned or operated landfills containing both
municipal trash and industrial wastes. The new policy would
apply to landfills on EPA's National Priorities List of the most
contaminated sites in the country.
"I am proud to issue this proposal as another example of the
Administration's commitment to a faster, fairer Superfund
program," said EPA Assistant Administrator Steven A. Herman. "I
am optimistic that the proposal will help eliminate third-party
litigation against parties EPA historically has believed do not
belong in the Superfund program."
"This is the latest in a series of steps that the
Administration has taken to enhance operation of Superfund
programs and reduce litigation," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant
Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's
Environment and Natural Resources Division. "This proposal will
help us get thousands of parties who disposed of ordinary trash
in landfills out of Superfund lawsuits brought by corporate
polluters. As a result of reforms like the one announced today,
the Superfund program now works better than ever."
Under the proposed policy, EPA will offer settlements to
companies and municipalities that disposed of municipal solid
waste at Superfund sites by charging them $3.05 to $3.25 per ton
of waste sent. EPA calculated this formula by estimating the
cost of cleanup activities at a representative landfill
containing only municipal solid waste, and converting those costs
to a per-ton charge.
EPA will also offer settlements to municipalities that owned
or operated landfills containing both municipal solid waste and
other wastes, by charging them 20 percent of the total site
cleanup costs. This percentage could be adjusted to as high as
35 percent under certain circumstances, such as when the
municipality took actions that exacerbated environmental
contamination at the site. In addition to this percentage
contribution, municipalities will be expected to pay the same
per-ton charge for any municipal solid waste that they disposed
of in the landfill. EPA will continue to seek additional cleanup
work and/or cost recovery from the other parties that sent
hazardous substances to these sites.
The proposed settlement policy was published in the Federal
Register on Friday, July 11. EPA is seeking comments on the
proposal from the public for a period of 45 days.
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