FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1995                         (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

   PARTIES AGREE TO $3.5 MILLION LONG ISLAND SUPERFUND CLEANUP

    FUTURE SETTLEMENTS COULD BE THREATENED BY BILL IN CONGRESS
                                 
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Seventeen corporations have agreed to clean
up a Long Island Superfund site and help end a potential threat
to local water supplies and private water wells, the United
States government announced today.  But, a government official
warned that future settlements may be impossible in the face of
pending legislation in Congress.  
     
     Today's agreement, lodged in federal court in New York,
requires Commander Oil Corporation and 16 others to pay for and
to complete an estimated $3.5 million cleanup of the Pasley
Superfund Site in Hempstead, New York.  The settlement, in the
form of a consent decree, resolves the government's claim of
liability under the Superfund statute against the parties without
the need for any litigation.  The government's allegations were
contained in a complaint filed today as well.

     The complaint alleges that the parties shipped hazardous
materials, including chemicals and solvents, to be stored at the
site.  The hazardous materials have caused soil and groundwater
contamination, posing a potential contamination threat to
drinking water sources of seven Nassau County water districts and
129 private drinking wells.  

     Commander Oil, owner of the site, will perform the cleanup
and reimburse the United States for $750,000 in past response
costs.  The cleanup will combine two innovative technologies --
"air sparging" and "soil vacuuming."  Air will be injected into
portions of the contaminated soil and groundwater, allowing
hazardous materials to be sucked out by highpowered vacuums.  A
long-term monitoring program will be put in place to track any
migration of contaminants and to monitor the soil and
groundwater.  The remaining defendants will pay $1.85 million
toward the cost of the cleanup.  

     "This agreement is good news for everyone involved -- the
people of Nassau County, the defendants and the United States,"
said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. 
"With the cleanup of this site, a threat to Long Islanders has
been checked.  We will achieve this through 
sound, innovative technologies at a lower cost to the defendants
in this case.  In addition, the settlement will achieve cleanup
of the site without the need for litigation and the drain of
additional private and federal resources to achieve cleanup
through litigation."
     
     "I am concerned, however, that settlements like this one
will be a thing of the past if legislative Superfund reform
proposals are to be enacted by Congress," added Schiffer.  "Those
proposals will make it much more difficult for the Justice
Department to negotiate settlements in Superfund cases, and will
bankrupt the Superfund program with paybacks to polluters." 

     "I am proud of this settlement and of the modified cleanup
plan it will help fund.  The new cleanup plan will achieve the
same levels of groundwater cleanup as would have been achieved
with the more conventional technology but at a substantially
lower price," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Region 2 Administrator. 
"This change demonstrates EPA's commitment to finding effective,
common sense solutions to environmental problems."

     The original cleanup plan, devised three years ago, was
estimated to cost $9.37 million. However, since that time, EPA's
technical staff has been cooperating with the parties to find a
less expensive solution based upon recent innovative technology.

     The government's complaint alleges that from 1969 until
1982, Pasley Solvents and Chemicals operated a chemical distribu-
tion facility on site.  Chemicals and other hazardous materials
were allegedly shipped there and stored in large surface tanks. 
The chemicals were then allegedly moved into 55-gallon drums for
distribution to customers.  The Nassau County Health Department
first detected soil contamination in 1981.  The site was placed
on the Superfund priority list in 1986.  Commander Oil removed
the above ground storage tanks in 1988.

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