FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR
FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1997 (202) 514-2008
TDD (202) 514-1888
EPA, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SECURE AGREEMENTS TO CLEAN UP TWO
TAMPA, FLORIDA SUPERFUND SITES FOR BETWEEN $22 AND $32 MILLION
156 Companies, Government Agencies and Others
Agree to Fund Cleanup
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A group of 156 companies, government
agencies and other organizations that sent waste oils and other
hazardous materials to two neighboring Superfund sites near Tampa,
today agreed to fund the cleanup, estimated to cost between $22 and
$32 million, the United States announced.
The Peak Oil Superfund Site and the Bay Drums Superfund Site
are located next to each other in Brandon, Florida, east of Tampa.
Under three separate settlements filed today in U.S. District
Court in Tampa, the 156 parties will reimburse the Environmental
Protection Agency $7.8 million for past cleanup costs and pay
between $14 and $25 million to cleanup soil, surface water and
groundwater contaminated with heavy metals, PCB's, and other
hazardous substances. As part of the settlements, they will also
monitor nearby wetlands to ensure they do not become contaminated.
"These settlements illustrate one of the major benefits of the
Superfund program -- making sure that those who create or
contribute to hazardous contamination, not the American taxpayers,
pay to clean it up", said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General
in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural
Resources Division. "We have an ongoing commitment to get our
nation's worst hazardous waste sites cleaned up, so we can preserve
public health and the beauty of this nation."
"These agreements will ensure the complete clean up of these
two Superfund Sites and hopefully give the people of Brandon some
peace of mind", said John H. Hankinson, Jr., EPA Regional
Administrator in Atlanta. "Because of Superfund, soon another
community will be free of the worry and stigma of living near a
toxic waste site."
Under the first settlement, 61 private companies and
government agencies will spend approximately $7 million to clean up
soil and surface water at the Peak Oil Superfund Site; an abandoned
waste oil refinery, which processed waste oils, fuels, lubricants
and solvents, primarily from car and truck crankcases and
transformers. The Peak Oil Company operated the facility from the
1950's to the mid-1980's, when it went out of business and
abandoned the Site.
Under a complaint filed with the settlements, the United
States alleged that waste oils processed at the site contaminated
the soil, groundwater and surface water with heavy metals such as
lead, arsenic and mercury; petroleum hydrocarbons, solvents, and
PCB's or polychlorinated biphenyls.
Under the second settlement, 95 companies and government
agencies will spend approximately $3 million to clean up soil and
surface water at the Bay Drums Superfund Site; an abandoned storage
drum reconditioning facility, located next to the Peak Oil Site.
The facility was operated by two different companies from the
1960's to the early 1980's. Both companies went out of business in
the mid-1980's. The facility was used to recycle 55-gallon drums
that stored chemicals, fuel additives, solvents, and other
hazardous compounds. Drums brought to the facility often still
contained hazardous substances, which were dumped at the site. The
drums were rinsed, stripped, reconditioned, repainted and returned
to customers or sold as reconditioned drums.
In its complaint, the United States alleged that soil,
groundwater and surface water were polluted with a variety of
hazardous compounds including oils, solvents, and pesticides.
Under a third settlement, the 156 companies and government
agencies at both sites have agreed to clean up groundwater
underneath the sites contaminated by hazardous substances, and to
monitor nearby wetlands. The groundwater cleanup and wetlands
monitoring will cost between $4 and $15 million.
Beginning in 1993, EPA and the Justice Department implemented
three waves of comprehensive Superfund administrative reforms
resulting in faster, fairer and more efficient cleanups that are
being paid for by the companies that caused the pollution. Since
the beginning of 1993, nearly 270 Superfund sites have been cleaned
up, more than the 165 sites cleaned up in the first 12 years of the
program combined. In addition, cleanups are underway at another
497 sites. Today, responsible parties are performing more than 75
percent of long term cleanups, saving taxpayers more than $12
billion. In fiscal year 1996 alone, EPA and the Department of
Justice obtained $790 million worth of hazardous waste cleanups
paid for, or performed by, responsible parties.
EPA and the Department of Justice are also working to get
those who contribute a small amount of waste to a Superfund site
out of the litigation process quickly through fast-track
settlements that protect them from potential future lawsuits
brought by big polluters. Since 1993, settlements have been
reached with nearly 10,000 of these small volume contributors,
known as de minimis parties, protecting them from future liability,
while saving them from expensive, time consuming litigation.
At the Peak Oil Superfund Site, in accordance with the
Superfund reforms, EPA and the Department of Justice issued
settlement offers to hundreds of small volume contributors in 1994
and 1997, in an effort to get as many of them out of the litigation
as early as possible. To date, about 400 of these parties have
accepted EPA's settlement offer, resolving their liability at the
Site and protecting them from lawsuits from other companies who are
potentially liable for cleanup costs at the Peak Oil Site.
For more information about Superfund, access EPA's enforcement
homepage at: www.epa.gov\oeca, and click on the Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and then on the Office of Site
Remediation Enforcement.
A list of the settling parties is attached.
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97-256
Settling Parties at the Peak Oil and Bay Drums Superfund Sites
Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc.
Ameristeel
Anheuser-Busch Inc.
Ashland Chemical Company
Avery Dennison Corporation
B-H Transfer Co.
Bay Materials
Bayliner Marine Corp.
Bill Currie Ford Inc.
Borden Inc.
Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.
Bryson Industrial
Burmah Castrol USA Inc.
Cargill Fertilizer Inc.
Cargill Incorporated
Central Oil Company Inc.
CF Industries Inc.
Chemcentral Corporation
Chevron Chemical Company
Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
City of Tampa
Commercial Carrier Corporation
Commercial Metals Company
Cooper Industries Inc.
Crown Beverages Packaging Inc.
CSX Transportation Inc.
Cytec Industries Inc.
D-A Lubricant Company Inc.
Darby Buick Inc.
Del Monte Foods
Del Monte Fresh Produce Company
Delta Air Lines Inc.
Delta Laboratories Inc.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company
Essilor of America Inc.
Exxon Corporation
Fairchild Holding Corp.
Flint Ink Corporation
Florida Adhesives Inc.
Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Company
Florida Department of Transportation
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power Corporation
FMC Corporation
GAF Corporation and Building Materials Corporation of America
Gator Chemicals Inc.
General Electric Company
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
Grow Group Inc.
GTE Directories Corporation
GTE Florida Incorporated
H.B. Fuller Company
The Hertz Corporation
Hillsborough County School Board
Honeywell Inc.
Hunt Incorporated
IMC-Agrico Company
Industrial Chemical & Supply Co.
Ingersoll-Rand
J.F. Daley International Ltd.
Johnson Controls Inc.
Johnson Paints Inc.
Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Kraft Foods Inc.
Lee Ragatz Volkwagen Inc.
Lykes Meat Group Inc.
Lykes Brothers Inc.
Marathon Oil Company
McDonald Construction Corp.
Mid-State Oil Company
Misener Marine Construction Inc.
Mobil Oil Corporation
Monsanto Company
Montgomery Ward & Company Inc.
MRC Holdings Inc.
Mulberry Phosphates Inc.
National Service Industries Inc.
Navistar International Transportation Corp.
Olivetti Corporation of America
Orkin Exterminating Company Inc.
Owens-Corning Fiberglass
Paradise Fruit
Pennzoil Company and Pennzoil Products Company
Penske Truck Leasing Company L.P.
Pharmacia & Upjohn Company
Phillips Petroleum Company and Phillips Pipeline Company
Phoschem Supply Company Inc.
Pinellas County Mosquito Control/Pinellas County, Florida
Pitney Bowes Inc.
Polk County, Florida
PPG Industries Inc. and CP&W Inks
Precision Enterprises Inc.
Pride Sales Agency
The Proctor & Gamble Cellulose Company
Quaker State Corporation/Davis Oil Products Co.
Reichhold Chemicals Inc.
Reynolds Metals Company
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company
Rozier Machinery Company
Ryder Truck Rental Inc.
Savannah Paint Mfg. Company
Sears Roebuck and Co.
Sequa Corporation
The Sherwin-Williams Company
Southeast-Atlantic Beverage Corporation
Southern Film Extruders Inc.
Stauffer Management Company
St. Philip Towing
The Stroh Brewery Company
Sun Company Inc.
Swift Adhesives Inc.
Tampa Armature Works Inc.
Texaco
Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc.
Toyota Town of Clearwater
Treasure Chest Advertising Company Inc.
The Tribune Company
Tropicana Products Inc.
Union Oil Company of California
Unisys Corporation
Michelin North America Inc.
Walker Casket Co.
Waverly Growers Cooperative
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Winn-Dixie Stores Inc.
W.R. Grace & Co.
Aluminum Company of America
Amoco Oil Company
Mormac Marine Transport
Kvaerner John Brown
OMI Corporation
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of the Treasury
U.S. General Services Administration
U.S. Postal Service
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services