Region 5 - Office of Regional Counsel

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

AK Steel
Atlas Lederer Company
Eliskim, Inc and the City of Geneva, Ohio
Glen W. Ekberg
John R. Sand and Gravel Company (Metamora Landfill Superfund Site)
Hamilton Farm Bureau Cooperative, Inc.
Industrial Excess Landfill
Kerr-McGee Chemical, LLC
Met-Coil Systems, LLC
Michigan Consolidated Gas Company
Nease Chemical Superfund Site
Norfolk Southern Railway
Northern Indiana Public Service Company
Orica Nitrogen, LLC
Outboard Marine Corp.
Qwest Corporation, et al.
Royster Clark Agribusiness Inc.
Warren, Michigan
West KL Avenue Landfill Site
Zeller Corporation Superfund Site

On October 13, 2004, U.S. DOJ, U.S. EPA and PRP-Defendant Glen W. Ekberg entered into a Stipulation and Order. - In April 2004, U.S. EPA issued a Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) 104 UAO for access to Mr. Glen W. Ekberg, a CERCLA potentially responsible party (PRP) and Federal Court defendant (for a related cost recovery case), concerning property that he owns and operates which comprises a large portion of the identified Source Area 7 of the Southeast Rockford (IL) Groundwater Contamination Superfund Site. After some initial resistance, Mr. Ekberg complied with the UAO, and allowed Illinois EPA to perform Remedial Design sampling and activities at his portion of Source Area 7. However, in August 2004, claiming conflict with IL EPA and its contractors, Mr. Ekberg rescinded his grant of access and expelled IL EPA from his property. U.S. EPA notified Mr. Ekberg of his noncompliance with the April 2004 UAO. Mr. Ekberg refused to change his position and U.S. EPA referred the case to U.S. DOJ for enforcement of the UAO. U.S. DOJ, U.S. EPA (and Illinois’ Attorney General and EPA legal sections) conferred and determined to go forward after one more attempt at resolution. The negotiated Stipulation and Order sets out complete access for U.S. EPA/IL EPA and their support parties through Summer 2005; gives pre-sampling notification, identification of Site actors and split sample provisions to Mr. Ekberg; establishes an ‘exclusion zone’ where Mr. Ekberg and/or his agents may observe IL EPA activities with minimal likelihood of conflict or interference; and, vests jurisdiction over any future disputes concerning access with the Court, requiring Mr. Ekberg to seek court approval by motion for any subsequent proposed rescission of access. Southeast Rockford Site is a Superfund Site with an approximately 10-sq. mile plume of industrial waste breakdown-derived volatile organic compound (VOC) contaminated groundwater moving essentially east to west. VOCs are contaminants that evaoprate into the air easily. The Site was discovered in 1984 and placed on the National Priority List (NPL) in 1989. A CERCLA Record of Decision (ROD) was issued by U.S. EPA and IL EPA in June 2002, defining four Source Areas (4, 7, 9/10 and 11), with Source Area 7 being the worst. Mr. Ekberg has owned and operated at a significant portion of Source Area 7 since 1964. The U.S. is in separate litigation with Mr. Ekberg over Source Area 7 costs.
Primary Contacts: Thomas Turner, ORC 312-886-6613 and Russell Hart, RPM, Superfund Division
312-886-6613.

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Enters Judgment for United States On Taking Claim.  On October 29, 2004, the United States Court for Federal Claims Court entered judgment for the United States on a taking claim that had been filed against the government. The Court found that the plaintiff, John R. Sand and Gravel Company, had no compensable property interest and thus awarded the plaintiff no damages or attorney fees.

The Metamora Landfill Superfund Site is located in Lapeer County, Michigan. The landfill began operations in 1955 as a privately owned, unregulated open dump utilized by residents of the Village of Metamora. The operator, Russell Parrish, began illegally accepting drums of liquid industrial wastes during the mid-1960s. This continued through the 1970s. At no point was it ever licensed to accept liquid industrial wastes.

In 1969, the Plaintiff, John R. Sand & Gravel Company, entered into a 50-year lease with Parrish which granted it the exclusive right to mine sand and gravel on the Parrish property. At the time plaintiff entered into the lease, the landfill was in existence and operating as a landfill.

In September 1984, the Site was placed on the NPL. A RI/FS was conducted and two RODs were issued: one requiring the excavation and disposal of more than 30,000 drums at the Site, and the second requiring the remediation of contaminated groundwater and the closure and capping of the landfill. Both of these RODs were implemented by the PRPs. In the area covered by the landfill cap, EPA required that institutional controls be put in place to preclude activities, including mining, that could disturb the cap.

In June 2002, Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging that the environmental remediation of the site that excluded Plaintiff from a portion of the site caused a physical taking of a portion of its sand and gravel mining lease. After a trial on liability, the Court ruled in the United States' favor that there was no taking and thus awarded the plaintiff no damages or attorney fees. The court's decision stated that the plaintiff lacked a compensable property interest because it took the mining lease subject to the existence of the landfill and allowed the landfill to continue to operate in an area that was subject to the lease. The court also went on to rule that any mining in the area of the landfill cap could impact the existing groundwater remediation and endangering the public health and safety, thereby creating a public nuisance. Since the mining would be a public nuisance, preventing the plaintiff from mining would not be a compensable interest.

Primary Contact: Peter Felitti (312) 886-5114.

On November 24, 2004, U.S. EPA Issued a Clean Water Act Section 311 Administrative Order on Consent for the Bowman Creek (3) Oil Spill Site, to the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), for Performance of a Removal Action and Cost Reimbursement at the Bowman Creek (3) Site in South Bend, Indiana (St. Joseph County). This AOC requires NIPSCO to perform removal actions and to reimburse U.S. EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard for oversight costs at the Bowman Creek (3)(South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana) Oil Spill site. NIPSCO is required to address and remove all oil and oily-like substances entering Bowman Creek as a result of coal tar and other petroleum-related discharges from the upstream NIPSCO South Bend, IN facility. Pursuant to the Order, under the direction of a U.S. EPA On-Scene Coordinator, NIPSCO will address the ground and surface water, soils and/or creek contamination from the Bowman Creek (3) Oil Spill Area to the extent necessary to abate an imminent and substantial threat to the public health or welfare at Bowman Creek. NIPSCO is also currently addressing long-term source control matters at its facility through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management voluntary clean-up program. Bowman Creek is a tributary of the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana and a navigable water of the United States under the CWA. Bowman Creek passes through South Bend, IN.

In February 2000, a release of diesel oil from the area of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GTWR) facility adjacent to the north bank (and downstream from the current Site) of Bowman Creek prompted a State of Indiana investigation and referral to US EPA. US EPA negotiated and issued a CWA Section 311 AOC to GTWR in March 2000 (Bowman Creek Site 1). The GTWR work was completed in 2002, except for oversight and maintenance (Bowman Creek Site 2) which is on-going. At the conclusion of its removal work, GTWR conducted a study and reported to U.S. EPA that an additional source of petroleum discharge to Bowman Creek was discernible from an upstream source. Follow up investigation by U.S. EPA determined that NIPSCO was responsible for the upstream contamination. In Spring 2004, U.S. EPA began formal negotiations with NIPSCO in order to address the oil discharge. An AOC was negotiated, and issued on November 24, 2004.

Primary Contact: Thomas Turner, Associate Regional Counsel, 312-886-3337.

EPA issues Consent Agreement and Final Order to Hamilton Farm Bureau Cooperative, Inc., Martin, Michigan.  On December 22, 2004, EPA issued a CAFO to Hamilton Farm Bureau Cooperative, Inc., for collection of $4,498.75 cash penalty and performance of a supplemental environmental project (SEP) valued at $7,500.00. The CAFO resolves a violation of CERCLA 203 by Hamilton Farm for the release of 865 pounds of anhydrous ammonia and a failure to timely notify the national response center from May 29 through June 1, 2004. The SEP requires the installation and maintenance of site security cameras and light towers by the respondent at its ammonia storage area. The prior release was due to theft.

Hamilton Farm Bureau Cooperative stores and sells anhydrous ammonia for agricultural purposes. Respondent had few prior security measures.  As a result of EPA enforcement actions, Respondent will augment its security measures by installing and maintaining site security cameras and light towers in order to deter future theft of ammonia by individuals seeking to manufacture methamphetamines. The proposed SEP, if properly implemented and maintained for (at least) 5 years, should add to deterrence of criminal vandalism and reduce the overall risk of release of ammonia from the site. This is an acceptable ‘Pollution Prevention’ action, in order to reduce the amount of a pollutant otherwise being released into the environment.

On September 20, 2004, EPA mailed a Notice of Intent letter to the Respondent, advising of EPA’s plan to file an Administrative Complaint with proposed penalty of $17,703.64, for the release of 865 pounds of anhydrous ammonia and failure to timely notify the NRC.  Respondent requested negotiation of a settlement and due to acceptable mitigating factors (quick settlement, attitude/cooperation and other matters as justice may require), EPA reduced the proposed penalty figure to $9,716.75.  Respondent offered a SEP valued at $7,500, and agreed to a cash penalty of $4,498.75, for actual out of pocket expenses of $11,998.75.  There was no economic benefit in this case and the SEP Policy allowed for the SEP (as described above) and the settlement penalty figure was determined to be acceptable (as a cash penalty of the greater of 25% of the gravity component or 10% of the gravity plus economic benefit).
Primary contacts, Thomas Turner, Associate Regional Counsel, (312) 886-6613 and James Entzminger, EPCRA Enforcement, (312) 886-4062.

Bankruptcy Court Approves Settlement for Superfund Cleanup and Cost Recovery with Met-Coil Systems, LLC for the Lockformer Site in Lisle, Illinois.  On December 28, 2004, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a settlement agreement with Met-Coil Systems, LLC (Met-Coil), resolving EPA’s cleanup and cost recovery claims against the bankrupt owner/operator of the Lockformer Superfund Site in Lisle, Illinois. Under the settlement, Met-Coil agrees to complete the $6 million cleanup of soil on its property contaminated with trichloroethylene using an electrical resistive heating system. This cleanup began under a pre-bankruptcy unilateral administrative order issued by EPA on October 4, 2001. Met-Coil also agrees to pay EPA $290,500 for the Agency’s pre-bankruptcy costs of overseeing the cleanup and $120,000 for its post-bankruptcy oversight costs.

Contact: Thomas Krueger, Associate Regional Counsel (312) 886-0562

On Jan. 31, 2005, Region 5 filed a Consent Agreement and Final Order to commence and conclude its case against the City of Warren, Michigan.  On Jan 31, 2005, Region 5 filed a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) simultaneously commencing and concluding an administrative penalty action against the city of Warren, Michigan for violations of the reporting requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9603, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1985 (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C. §11004. The CAFO requires the city of Warren to pay a penalty of $8,766 and complete a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) costing $27,900. The city of Warren’s SEP involves the installation of a chlorine safety system, consisting of an automatic valve closure system for two, one-ton chlorine containers in use at the city’s Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). It also involves keeping a third automatic valve closure system as a back-up. On April 28, 2004, EPA sent a pre-filing notice letter to the city of Warren for not timely reporting a chlorine leak to the National Response Center and the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC). The SEP will help the city of Warren limit the future release of chlorine from its WWTP’s tanks. The city is also modifying its notification procedures so that in the future, if there is a release of a reportable quantity of hazardous substances, the notifications will be made in a timely manner. The proposed penalty in this matter was $35,064.20. Region 5 deemed it appropriate and consistent with the SEP policy to mitigate the settlement penalty to $8766, in light of the City of Warren’s commitment to perform the SEP.
Contact Michael Berman, Office of Regional Counsel, 312-886-6837

Region 5 finalizes Superfund cost recovery settlement with Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. for oversight of investigation and cleanup of mercury spills in Detroit, Michigan. On February 2, 2005, Region 5 finalized an administrative agreement with Michigan Consolidated Gas Company (“MichCon”) in which MichCon agrees to pay $160,000 for U.S. EPA’s costs of overseeing cleanup work.

On August 25, 2000, U.S. EPA was called in to assist MichCon with a mercury spill from a gas pressure regulator in a home in Lincoln Park, Michigan. Older regulators contained mercury, which could be released if not handled properly when the regulators were replaced with newer units. In providing technical assistance to MichCon, U.S. EPA became concerned that MichCon could have a more widespread problem with mercury spills from the replacement of pressure regulators (similar to the problems encountered by Nicor Gas in the Chicago area). U.S. EPA therefore requested that MichCon undertake a program to investigate whether historical spills were present in its service territory and to address any mercury contamination discovered during that investigation. U.S. EPA and MichCon briefly discussed entering an order to formalize MichCon=s obligations, but MichCon was reluctant to sign a consent order. U.S. EPA management decided that the most efficient course, and the approach presenting the least disruption for the homeowners, was to proceed as a voluntary PRP-lead removal action with
U.S. EPA oversight.

MichCon agreed to perform a two phase voluntary action program to address concerns about mercury spills in coordination with U.S. EPA and the Michigan Department of Community Health. The first phase was to sample at approximately 38 homes where accidental mercury releases from pressure regulators were known to have occurred after 1990. Thirteen of the homes addressed in Phase I required further cleanup. The second phase involved sampling other residences where mercury regulators may have been removed. Thirty-one of the homes investigated in Phase II required cleanup. MichCon spent more than $5 million on the investigation and cleanup.

After the work was completed, U.S. EPA demanded payment of its costs in overseeing MichCon’s work. Even though the work was not done under an enforcement order, MichCon agreed to pay $160,000 (roughly 40% of U.S. EPA’s total costs).

Contact Thomas Krueger, Office of Regional Counsel, 312-886-0562

Region 5 reaches $2.6 million settlement with OMC Bankruptcy estate and separate prospective purchaser agreement for purchase of OMC site with City of Waukegan.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5, the State of Illinois and U.S. Department of Justice have completed two settlements involving cleanup at Waukegan Harbor. One is a $2.6 million agreement with Outboard Marine Corp.’s (OMC) bankruptcy estate to help pay for additional Superfund ground water cleanup at OMC’s Plant 2 site in Waukegan, IL The second settlement, a supplemental consent decree with the city of Waukegan, ensures the continued operation and maintenance of PCB containment cells on the Plant 2 site.

EPA has a long history of involvement at the 75-acre OMC site. The site was placed on the Superfund National Priorities List in 1984 due to the presence of widespread PCB contamination in Waukegan Harbor. EPA later filed a civil action against the OMC, which resulted in a consent decree requiring a $20 million harbor cleanup. OMC performed the cleanup and under the decree, placed contaminated sediment from the cleanup in containment cells on its Plant 2 property. OMC thereafter operated and maintained the cells.

OMC declared bankruptcy in 2000, selling off most of its assets and halting its operation and maintenance of the containment cells. In 2002 the estate petitioned for legal abandonment of the site, which the government opposed due to the environmental hazards remaining there. Subsequently, the parties reached a settlement in 2002 requiring the estate to perform a limited amount of emergency cleanup work at Plant 2 and to pay EPA $221,250 to fund further work prior to abandonment of the site. Separately, EPA and the State also filed a civil complaint in 2002 seeking the cleanup of chlorinated solvents in the ground water beneath Plant 2.

Under the settlement, the OMC estate will place $2.6 million in a Superfund special account to be used toward cleanup of the ground water beneath Plant 2. In addition, the agreement grants EPA and Illinois EPA allowed unsecured claims against the estate totaling approximately $2 million. The second settlement frees Waukegan from future liability for the existing, historic contamination at the now-unoccupied Plant 2 site — enabling potential redevelopment for the broader lakefront area. In return, the City will operate and maintain the containment cells and buildings on the site to prevent environmental problems from occurring in the future. In addition, the second settlement addresses the possibility of a windfall to the City upon the sale of the site attributable to the government cleanup, and reserves the government’s ability to dedicate any windfall funds to future required cleanup at the site.
Contact: Thomas Martin (312) 886-4273

Court Enters First Amendment to the West KL Avenue Landfill Superfund Site Consent Decree. On April 15, 2005, Judge Richard Alan Enslen, entered the First Amendment to the Consent Decree, to implement the February 27, 2003 Record of Decision Amendment modifying the remedy for the West KL Avenue Landfill Superfund Site. The Site is located in Oshtemo Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. This First Amendment to the Consent Decree resolves claims against 219 third-party defendants and the performing defendants: Pharmacia Corporation (the successor to the Upjohn Company); Kalamazoo County, Michigan; the Charter Township of Oshtemo, Michigan, and; the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan. This ROD amendment requires the performing settling defendants to extend municipal water service to residents affected by groundwater contamination in the vicinity of the landfill, revises the groundwater cleanup standards consistent with the 1994 State of Michigan revised standards, and imposes additional institutional controls to prevent well water contamination, such as the closing of affected wells. The 87 acre site operated as a landfill from the early 1960s until 1979. During its operations, the site accepted a variety of commercial, industrial and municipal refuse, including drummed chemical waste.
Contact: Stuart P. Hersh, primary contact, 312-886-6235; Timothy Prendiville, additional contact, 312-886-5122

Norfolk Southern Railway Enters into Consent Order for Emergency Response. Effective April 28, 2005, Norfolk Southern Railway entered into an Administrative Order on Consent for the Tri-State Chemical Site, located in Macon, Brown County, Ohio. The Order requires Norfolk Southern to characterize, remove, and properly dispose of hazardous waste and associated heavily-contaminated soils and debris located at the Site. Norfolk Southern also is agreeing to pay EPA’s past and oversight costs associated with the Site. Norfolk Southern is the owner of the land, and had leased the land to Tri-State Chemical Company. Tri-State Chemical Company owned the structures on the land and operated the business until it ceased most activities in 2000. In November 2004, the Brown County Sheriff’s Department informed the Ohio EPA that it had observed a building containing several hundred drums, some of which appeared to be leaking or bulging. According to subsequent Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA investigations, all eight samples were characteristic hazardous waste by virtue of ignitability.

Contact: Stuart P. Hersh, primary contact, 312-886-6235; Steven Renninger, additional contact, 513-569-7539

Unilateral Administrative Order (Docket No. V-W-05-C-821) Issued at the Former Zeller Corporation Superfund Site in Defiance, Ohio. - The Former Zeller Corporation Superfund Site (“Site”) is an abandoned manufacturing facility which once produced universal joints, drive shafts, drive line components and spark plugs. U.S. EPA determined that the presence of high levels of PCBs in transformers, oil spilled from transformers, oil that has migrated off-site from the transformers, and various industrial wastes abandoned at the Site pose a threat to human health and the environment. On June 16, 2005, U.S. EPA issued an Action Memorandum setting forth required response actions designed to abate the threats posed by the Site. The cleanup work will include the excavation of approximately 1000 tons of PCB contaminated soil and debris, disposal of approximately 300,000 gallons of PCB contaminated water, disposal of several dozen PCB transformers and capacitors, disposal of approximately 17 unknown containers, and disposal of several hundred laboratory containers. The potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) at the Site declined an offer by U.S. EPA to enter into a voluntary cleanup agreement. On June 21, 2005, a Unilateral Administrative Order (“UAO”), ordering implementation of the necessary cleanup work, was issued to the PRPs. The PRPs have expressed their willingness to comply with UAO.

Primary contact: Rich Murawski, Assistant Regional Counsel (312) 886-6721.

Consent Decree entered for Four Kerr-McGee Superfund Sites. The U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of Illinois recently, August 10, 2005, entered the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Region 5's consent decree embodying a "global" settlement of all remaining issues at four radioactively-contaminated Kerr-McGee National Priorities List (NPL) Superfund Sites in West Chicago and DuPage County, Illinois.

Beginning in the mid-1930s, Lindsay Light and Chemical refined radioactive ores to obtain thorium for gas light mantles and weaponry at a facility in the downtown area of the City of
West Chicago. The processing and disposal of radioactive ores resulted in four related Superfund sites.

Under the consent decree, Kerr-McGee Chemical LLC, Linsday’s corporate successor that also refined thorium at the West Chicago facility, will perform the remedial design/remedial action at the Kress Creek/West Branch DuPage River Site and the Sewage Treatment Plant Site river operable unit. The riparian cleanup involves nearly 8 miles or river banks, sediments and flood plains. It will likely cost over $73 million. Kerr-McGee also will implement groundwater monitoring at the Reed-Keppler Park Superfund Site required by a no-action Record of Decision (ROD). U.S. EPA issued the no-action ROD following $33 million removal of thorium contamination from Reed-Keppler Park pursuant to a U.S. EPA unilateral administrative order. At the Residential Areas Site, Kerr-McGee also cleaned up nearly 700 residential properties pursuant to a U.S. EPA unilateral administrative order at the cost of $66 million and following completion of 99% of the removal work, U.S. EPA issued a no-action ROD for the Residential Areas Sites.

The consent decree also resolves Kerr-McGee's Reed-Keppler Park 106(b) petition and the Federal and State natural resource damage issues. Kerr-McGee will reimburse U.S.EPA for $6 million of approximately $20 million in past costs incurred by U.S. EPA at the four NPL sites. Kerr-McGee will pay U.S. EPA $1.5 million by September 9, 2005, but the remaining past costs will be paid after Department of Energy reimburses 55.2% of Kerr-McGee response costs
incurred at the NPL sites. Kerr-McGee will reimburse up to $2 million in U.S. EPA’s future costs. The consent decree is a three-party agreement between Kerr-McGee, the United States, and the State of Illinois.

Contact: Mary Fulghum, primary contact (312) 886-4683, Cathleen Martwick, additional contact, (312) 886-7166, Padma Bending, 106 (b) petition response contact, (312) 353-8917.

Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study Field Work begins at the ARMCO Hamilton Superfund Site. On August 30, 2005, Region 5 announced that field work associated with a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) began at the ARMCO Hamilton Superfund Site, 401 Augsberger Road, New Miami, Ohio. The Phase 1 field work will determine the nature and extent of contamination and will include sampling of soil, ground water, surface water and sediment and installation of monitoring wells. Sampling areas will include former by-product areas such as air sludge scrubbers, a rail yard, stormwater outlets, drainage ditches, fuel storage tanks, wastewater settling ponds and a closed landfill. The site is composed of two parcels on 252 acres with a history of heavy industrial use since the early 1900s. Starting out as a coke plant, the property was also the site of iron, steel and road tar manufacturing. Now vacant, the property was purchased by AK Steel in 1994 and subsequently blast furnaces, buildings and other structures were demolished. The work now under way will be performed by AK Steel, the Potentially Responsible Party for the site, under the requirements of an administrative order on consent entered into with U.S. EPA. Region 5 will conduct oversight in consultation with Ohio EPA.

Contact: Janet Carlson at (312) 886-6059 or Mark Palermo (312) 886-6082 (Legal Contacts) or Pablo Valentin at (312) 353-2886 (Technical Contact))

Cost Recovery Consent Decree Entered 7/13/05 in U.S. v. Atlas Lederer Company
The settlement in U.S. v. Atlas Lederer Company (Case No. C-3-91-309) entered in the Southern District of Ohio, provides for recovery of past costs under Section 107 of CERCLA from four settling defendants; litigation is on-going against additional defendants. The settlement is in connection with the United Scrap Lead Site, which is located on Highway 25A in Troy, Ohio. Pursuant to the consent decree, three of the Defendants, Barker Junk Company, Inc., Broadway Iron & Metal, Inc., and U.S. Waste Materials, Inc. are to make reimbursement of EPA's past costs within 30 days of the entry of the consent decree. While also required to make an initial payment of $6,630 within 30 days of consent decree entry, Moyers Auto Wrecking will make a series of installment payments every 90 days, until it has paid a total of $26,520, plus Interest on the installment payments. The United States will recover a total of $137,499.76, plus interest, when all payments have been made pursuant to consent decree provisions. The settling defendants will also make additional payments totaling $38,787.97 to the Respondent Group, the PRP group which conducted the remedial design/remedial action at the Site

Contacts: Sherry L. Estes, ORC, (312) 886-7164; Deborah Garber, ORC (312) 886-6610)

Region 5 signs a Consent Agreement and Final Order with Orica Nitrogen, LLC.  Region 5 initiated this enforcement action in September of 2004. On September 12, 2005, the Region filed a Consent Agreement and Final Order with Orica Nitrogen, LLC, of Morris, Illinois to settle alleged violations of Section 103 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9603 and Section 304 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11004, at their facility in Morris, Illinois. The alleged violations arose out the failure to promptly report a continuous release of ammonia discovered at their facility in April of 2003. Under the terms of the agreement, Orica will pay a penalty of $13,750 and complete a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) costing at least $100,000. Through the SEP, Orica will reduce nitrogen oxides emitted by its nitric acid plant by an estimated 30 tons per year by installing a hydrogen peroxide dosing system and operating the system during startups.

Contact: Erik Olson, primary contact 312-886-6829; James Entzminger, additional contact 312-886-4062

Consent Decree was Lodged that resolves claims for past oversight costs at the True Temper Site in Geneva, Ohio
On September 15, 2005, the Director of the Superfund Division, Region 5, signed a Consent Decree that settled claims for past oversight costs incurred by the Agency in connection with the True Temper Site in Geneva, Ohio. On September 19, 2005, the Department of Justice lodged the Consent Decree in the United States District Court of Ohio. The Consent Decree provides for the payment of $69,000.00 and resolves the Agency’s claims against Eliskim, Inc. and the City of Geneva, Ohio.In 1997, the Agency entered into an AOC with the City and Eliskim to perform removal response action work at the True Temper Sports Site (True Temper Site). The Agency incurred costs overseeing the removal of lead and PCB-contaminated soils from the True Temper Site. The removal work was completed in 1999. The Agency estimates that the value of the removal work is $8.7 million.The Administrative Order On Consent (AOC) required Eliskim and the City to pay the Agency’s oversight costs. Eliskim and the City have already paid the Agency oversight costs totaling $467,053.38. By the time work was completed, Eliskim had ceased operations and claimed to have no ability to pay the final oversight bill for costs totaling approximately $118,000.00. The Consent Decree provides that Eliskim will pay the Agency $56,500.00 from monies received in a settlement with its insurance company. The City of Geneva will pay $12,500.00 out of general revenues. In total, the Agency will have recovered more than ninety percent of the costs it incurred at the True Temper Site.
Contact: Steven P. Kaiser, ORC, (312) 353-3804.
Record of Decision Issued Establishing Remedy for Nease Chemical Superfund Site, Columbiana County, Ohio  On September 29, 2005, Region 5 issued a record of decision establishing a remedy for source area and groundwater contamination at the Nease Chemical Superfund Site in Columbiana County, Ohio. The 44-acre site is on Route 14, 2.5 miles northwest of Salem on the Columbiana-Mahoning county line. Between 1961 and 1973, Nease Chemical produced household cleaning products, fire retardants and pesticides at the site. The remedy chosen in the Record of Decision is expected to cost approximately $19 million, and includes innovative chemical removal methods for former waste ponds at the site, as well as innovative soil capping and ground water treatment methods. On a separate track, a plan will be developed later for remediation of contamination at the nearby middle fork of Little Beaver Creek.

Contact: Mark Palermo: (312) 886-6082; Mary Logan: (312) 886-4699.