FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1995                           (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


CONTAINER CORPORATION OF AMERICA TO PAY $1.2 MILLION PENALTY



WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The St. Louis-based Container Corporation of
America (CCA) will pay a $1.2 million civil penalty to settle
charges that it improperly responded to an EPA information
request regarding CCA's involvement with a Superfund site in
Troy, Ohio.  The announcement comes on the heels of a January
settlement in which CCA agreed to pay $3.1 million in cleanup
costs for the site.

     The $1.2 million is the largest of its kind ever,
representing more than $1,000 for each day that CCA failed to
provide the correct information.  

     The agreement resolves charges, filed in an October 1993
complaint, that CCA told EPA that its nearby facility would not
have sent hazardous substances to the Miami County site.  CCA
realized its mistake shortly after but did not inform the EPA for
nearly three years.  The United States argued that CCA had
violated section 104(e) of the Superfund statute.  

     "Accurate, timely information is a cornerstone in our
efforts to clean up contaminated sites and resolve liability
issues quickly.  Without it, our ability to protect the people
and the environment is threatened," said Lois J. Schiffer,
Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environment and
Natural Resources Division.  "Companies have the duty to conduct
a reasonable investigation and to correct information that they
discovered was inaccurate."

     "The people of Miami County -- and all Americans have the
right to full and accurate information.  When companies fail to
provide it, they will be punished," Schiffer added.  




                                 
     "Companies should not drag their feet when it comes to
accuracy surrounding environmental clean-ups," said Edmund A.
Sargus, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of
Ohio.  "The people in the community deserve better."
     
     The Miami County site is a 65-acre facility located north of
Troy, near the Great Miami River.  The county operated an
incinerator and landfill from 1968 until 1978.  In 1984, EPA
placed the site on the National Priority List that contains our
nation's most contaminated sites.

     Several parties are now implementing the cleanup remedy
selected by EPA under a 1989 decree.  CCA missed a 1989
opportunity to join a settlement at the Troy site involving 120
other parties that disposed of hazardous substances at the site
as well.


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