ENR (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888
RAILROAD TO PAY $13M TO SETTLE LIABILITY AT SUPERFUND SITE
Cleanup At Bayou Bonfouca In Louisiana Substantially Completed
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the State of Louisiana today announced that they have reached a $13 million settlement with the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company to resolve the railroad's share of liability for the cleanup of massive environmental pollution at the Bayou Bonfouca Superfund Site in Slidell, Louisiana.
Two weeks ago, Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon, United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, found the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company liable for pollution at the site caused by the Creosote Works, one of the oldest industrial facilities in the area. It was built by the railroad in 1882 and operated almost continuously until 1972.
Parties reached agreement on a settlement last week, days before a trial for this case was scheduled to begin. The terms of the settlement will be set out in a Consent Decree to be filed with the Court and made available for public comment.
"Today's settlement requires the railroad that caused some of the pollution at this site to pay some of the cost of cleaning it up," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources at the Department of Justice. "That means healthier communities for the people of Louisiana and a cleaner environment for all of us."
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana Eddie J. Jordan, Jr., said, "The United States and the State are prepared to go to trial, if necessary, to recover public money spent on behalf of the taxpayers from companies whose activities have endangered the public health and polluted the environment."
Gregg Cooke, the Regional Administrator of EPA Region 6, and Dale Givens, the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said that they were pleased that the federal and state governments were able to recover costs and clean up the pollution at the site.
The railroad used the Creosote Works to treat piles and timbers used in the construction of the Lake Ponchartrain trestle to complete the rail line from Cincinnati to New Orleans. Creosote, a hazardous substance, dripped, spilled, and was discharged as a result of the treatment process, severely contaminating the soil, bayou sediments and groundwater at the site.
From 1902 to 1972, a series of creosoting companies owned and operated the Creosote Works. The court found that throughout that period, the railroad owned the system of industrial tracks at the plant and that it played an "integral part in the transport and disposal of the hazardous substances." The Court found that "[t]he wood was carried by rail at every stage of the treatment process: from its initial delivery to the Creosote Works through its shipment out of the area as a finished product."
Government authorities became aware of the severity of the problem at the site after U. S. Coast Guard divers suffered second degree burns from the contaminated sediments in Bayou Bonfouca. Under agreements between the U.S. EPA and Louisiana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers supervised the incineration of polluted soils and sediments. The remediation of contaminated groundwater continues at the site.
In 1996, the United States and Louisiana sued several corporate successors of past owners and operators for the recovery of the cleanup costs, which total about $140 million. The governments could not pursue two of the four creosoting companies that had operated the plant because they had long gone out of business. Shortly after the case was filed, the governments reached a settlement with Kerr-McGee Chemical Company, a successor to one of the creosote companies, under which Kerr-McGee agreed to pay $21.5 million. Later that year, the United States and Louisiana settled with Fleming American Investment Trust, the successor to the first company that owned the site, for $4 million.
After the site was cleaned up, the Braselman Corporation, the most recent site owner, donated the property to the City of Slidell. The city now uses the land for municipal and recreational purposes.
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