Office of Site Remediation 

Enforcement (2271A) September 2006 

Washington, DC 20460 Issue #30 

inside 

Torch Lake 2 

Somers Plating 

Oak Ridge 3 

Rocky Mountain Arsenal 

Halaco Engineering 4 

Christina River Oil Spill 

United Zinc #1 

New Jersey Settlements 5 

Conspiracy Guilty Pleas 

Kentucky River Oil Spill 

In the Courts 6 

Aviall Remand 

Schaefer v. Town of Victor 

Atlantic Research Corp. V 

Tidbits 7 

OECA Deputy AA 

Region 7 Administrator 

Murphy Oil Update 

Calendar 8 

Glossary 

CleanupNews is a monthly 

newsletter highlighting hazardous 

waste cleanup cases, policies, 

settlements and technologies. 

cleanupnews

EPA Scores Victory as 

Vertac Decision Affirmed 

liability proviville Land­ sions of 

fill. Sepa- CERCLA were 

rately, unconstituCrompton tional as apwas found plied to them 

responsible in the case. 

for only 2.6 Specifically, 

percent of with respect to 

the costs Hercules’ isvis-à-vis sues, the 

Hercules in Vertac site incineration facility, Eighth Circuit 

a contribu- Jacksonville, Arkansas. held that the 

EPA recently won an appellate court victory in 

connection with a 2005 

$119 million CERCLA cost recovery judgment against Hercules 

Inc. for the Vertac Chemical Plant 

site. Crompton Co./CIE (formerly 

Uniroyal Chemical Ltd.) was 

found jointly and severally liable 

with Hercules for more than $110 

million of the total judgment. The 

additional $9 million assessed 

against Hercules was for cleanup 

costs associated with the nearby 

Jacksongued that EPA could not recover 

costs related to site cleanup goals 

that were based on the dioxin cancer potency factor, because it was 

arbitrary and capricious in treating 

the factor as a rule (without 

rulemaking) in CERCLA remedy 

selection. Co-defendant Crompton 

argued that the district court erred 

in finding it liable as a CERCLA 

arranger based on a product formulation agreement that amounted to 

disposal (an Aceto theory). Both appellants argued that the retroactive 

tion action in the same case. The 

26-year-old Vertac case originated in the U.S. District Court 

for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The 2005 judgment of the 

district court was affirmed on all 

points on July 13, 2006 by the 

U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

In the appeal, Hercules, as 

former owner/operator of the site, 

argued that its liability for the 

Vertac site and the Jacksonville 

Landfill was divisible and should 

be apportioned. Hercules also ardistrict court had correctly found 

that the site could not be separated 

into divisible geographic units. On 

a related matter, the appellate 

court held that there was insufficient evidence to allow for the division of the soil and ground water 

contamination, and that the evidence supported the finding of Hercules’ responsibility for incineration 

of the drums that Hercules contended were a separate harm 

caused by Vertac and the government. Thus, Hercules was liable for 

cleanup of dioxin waste leaked from 

continued on page 2 

Printed on recycled paper 
Highlights

Community Celebrates Construction 

Completion at Torch Lake Site 

On August 17, representa- signed to help the aquatic ecosystem tends to stillbottom leakage and the 

tives from EPA Region 5, recover naturally by preventing stamp demolition, removal, and disposal of 

the Michigan Department sands from eroding into the surface plant buildings, equipment, and proof Environmental Quality, and water and causing further contamina- cess waste contents. The Eight CirUSDA’s Natural Resources Conserva- tion of lake sediments with heavy met- cuit found that the record adequately

tion Service (NRCS) joined members als. supported the district court’s finding

of surrounding communities to cel- Beginning in September 2003, EPA that the Health Assessment Docuebrate completion of construction ac- enlisted the help of local high school ment establishing EPA’s cancer potivities at Michigan’s Torch Lake teachers and students in long-term tency factor for risk assessment did

Superfund site in Houghton County on monitoring of the newly created terres- not impose any rights or obligations

the Keweenaw Peninsula. The cer- trial habitats. With the help of faculty and at most was a technical or adviemony, which took place at Lake Lin- from the Western Upper Peninsula sory report. As to Crompton’s liabilden Village Park within the Torch Center for Science, Mathematics and ity issue, the Eighth Circuit referred

Lake site, recognized the accomplish- Environmental Education at the Michi- to its earlier 2001 opinion and judgments of everyone involved in the gan Technical University, five science ment of liability, and held that abcleanup, particularly the participation teachers were trained to monitor bird sent new controlling authority or clear

of nearby communities. Rehabilita- and plant populations and soil fertility error by the district court, Crompton

tion work at the site included remov- at locations throughout the site. The would remain liable based on the law

ing debris, covering piles of stamp teachers have incorporated the moni- of the case. The Eighth Circuit detersands with clean soil, and stabilizing toring activities and data analysis into mined that the constitutional issue

the clean soil with fast-growing their curriculum; the students will per- raised by both parties was bound by

plants, and resulted in the creation of form sampling activities in September precedent in that Circuit and would

approximately 800 acres of new ter- 2006 and 2007. not be revisited. United States v. Vertac

restrial habitat. For additional information, contact Chemical Corp., 453 F.3d 1031 (8th

Cleanup actions addressed contami- Mick Hans, EPA Region 5, (312) 353- Cir., 2006). Both parties have now

nation of the aquatic habitat and lake 5050. petitioned the Eight Circuit for rehearsediments by piles of stamp sands left Vertac, continued from page 1 ing en banc.

over from seven decades of copper min- For additional information, contact

ing activities. The stamp sands were the more than 28,000 drums stored on James Turner, Region 6 ORC, (214)

produced when ore was crushed to ex- site as well as for the costs of drum in- 665-3159, or Clara Beitin, (202) 564-

tract copper. The remedy was de- cineration. Hercules’ liability also ex- 4795. 

EPA Completes Soil Cleanup at Somers

Plating Site

EPA Region 1 has completed excavation of contaminated soils from the Somers Plating site in Somers, Connecticut. 

EPA removed an estimated 8,800 tons of contaminated soil from the 3.62-acre former metal plating facility in a mixed 

residential and commercial section of town and shipped them off site for disposal. The 12-month removal action cost 

over $2.5 million. 

Ground water and surface soil sampling at the site began in 1998, revealing cadmium levels that exceeded Connecticut 

standards. In 2003, exploratory excavations conducted by a consultant for a potential buyer identified four metal 

hydroxide sludge lagoons. Samples of the lagoon sludge showed high concentrations of heavy metals, including chromium and cadmium. Region 1 conducted a de-watering operation with a ground water treatment system to facilitate 

excavation of the contaminated soils, pumping and treating approximately 60,300 gallons of water. Region 1 then 

backfilled and seeded two of the former lagoons, replanted wetlands vegetation in the other two, and installed two 

ground water monitoring wells. 

For additional information, contact Dave Deegan, Region 1 Office of Public Affairs, (617) 918-1017. 

2 cleanupnews 
Oak Ridge Stewardship Committee

Recognized for Community Outreach

EPA has awarded the 2006 The Stewardship Committee’s ac- that included lesson plans, videos, 

Citizen Excellence in complishments included designing and and a fictional case study for local 

Community Involvement distributing an educational resource kit teachers to use in educating students 

Award to the Oak Ridge Site about environmental cleanups in genSpecific Advisory Board eral. The committee also helped 

(ORSSAB) Stewardship Com­ make the location of contamimittee for its efforts to educate nated parcels at the Department 

residents about the environ- of Energy site and associated conmental cleanup process and en­ tamination notices available 

sure that properties at the Oak through the City of Oak Ridge’s 

Ridge Reservation Superfund online GIS system and the online 

site with long-term contamina­ document retrieval system maintion are tracked well into the tained by the Anderson County 

future. The award, which was Register of Deeds. Making sure 

presented on June 29 at the that this information is part of the 

EPA Community Involvement 

Conference and Training in 2006 Citizen Excellence in Community public record is important because some areas of radioactive 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is given Involvement Award presentation. Pictured 

to an individual or group work- left to right: Peter Osborne,ORSSAB; contamination are expected to remain an environmental threat for 

ing with EPA on hazardous Suzanne Wells, EPA; Heather Cothron, 

ORSSAB; Kerry Trammell, ORSSAB; thousands of years. 

waste issues. For additional information, Constance Jones, EPA; Karen Martin, EPA. contact Karen L. Martin, 

martin.karenl@epa.gov. 

OSWER News

Rocky Mountain Arsenal’s Internal

Parcel Deleted from NPL 

EPA has announced the removal of 11.5 square miles 

of Rocky Mountain Arsenal 

(RMA) from the NPL. This action 

will enable the U.S. Army to transfer 

the property to the Rocky Mountain 

Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, 

more than doubling its size to approximately 19 square miles. The deletion signals that EPA and the State 

of Colorado have determined that all 

cleanup actions necessary to protect 

public health and the environment on 

the 7,396-acre Internal Parcel have 

been completed. 

The Internal Parcel is the fourth and 

largest partial deletion accomplished 

since RMA was listed on the NPL in 

1987. In January 2003, a 940-acre area 

known as the Western Tier Parcel was 

“Nearly 80 percent of 

RMA has met cleanup 

standards and been 

deleted from the NPL.” 

deleted and is now being redeveloped 

by nearby Commerce City as Prairie 

Gateway. In January 2004, two areas 

totaling more than 5,000 acres known 

as the Select Perimeter Area and the 

Surface Deletion Area were deleted. Although most of the Internal Parcel is 

cleaned up, some areas within its 

boundaries were excluded from deletion. These include certain former 

processing areas, waste disposal 

sites, munitions demolition areas, 

structures, haul roads, and drainage 

areas. In addition, ground water in 

some areas will remain on the NPL 

and continue to be treated by existing water treatment systems. 

Cleanup of the remainder of the site 

is scheduled for completion by 2011. 

For additional information, contact 

Jennifer Chergo, EPA Region 8, (303) 

312-6601. 

cleanupnews 3
Owners Agree to Perform Time-Critical 

Removal at Halaco Engineering 

Emergency Response

EPA has reached a settle 

ment with owners of bank 

rupt Halaco Engineering 

Company to perform a time-critical 

removal action at the company’s facility near Ormond Beach in Oxnard, 

California. The settling parties agreed 

to remove or contain a 28-acre pile of 

hazardous waste and to pay all future 

costs of the removal. 

Halaco Engineering operated the 

metal reclamation facility from 1965 

to 2004. The facility consisted of 

two parcels on either side of the Oxnard Industrial Drain, a smelter and 

an unlined evaporation pond known 

as the waste management unit 

(WMU). The WMU is estimated to 

contain 400,000 cubic yards of 

waste, including radioactive slag 

and heavy metals. The smelter also 

contains large quantities of waste. 

The Halaco site is surrounded by 

sensitive ecosystems, including the 

Ormond Beach Wetlands and Lagoon, 

which serve as habitat for various threatened or endangered species. The removal 

includes implementing security measures, mitigating radioactive contamination, containing hazardous substances 

from the smelter and WMU, and removing liquid and solid wastes from containment structures, buildings, tanks, 

drums, and pit sumps. 

For additional information, contact 

Robert Wise, On-Scene Coordinator, EPA 

Region 9, wise.robert@epa.gov. 

EPA and Delaware Take Over Oil Spill 

Cleanup Oversight 

On July 26, EPA and the Delaware Department of Natural 

Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) assumed 

oversight of the cleanup of a 2,100-gallon waste oil spill 

into the Christina River. The spill occurred on July 15 when a hose 

ruptured during a tank transfer at an International Petroleum Corporation of Delaware (IPC) facility in Wilmington. Initial assessments and cleanup were directed by a unified command including 

the Coast Guard, EPA, DNREC, and the Siemens Corporation, which 

owns the IPC facility. 

The spill affected a five-mile stretch of the Christina River before 

it was contained. Cleanup crews collected 1,739 gallons of oil and 10 

large containers of oily debris from the river. Continuing cleanup 

efforts involve the use of absorbent material and booms to absorb 

and contain oily sheens on the Christina River and Brandywine Creek. 

COAST GUARD PHOTO BY

CMDR. SPENCER L. WOOD 

Contractor crews working on the 

Christina River near Wilmington, 

Delaware. 

In addition, IPC hired Tri-state Bird Rescue to address the damage done to waterfowl exposed to the oil. Of the 82 

birds collected so far, 20 have been released, 52 are being treated, and eight have died. 

Region 7 Conducts Time-Critical

Removal at United Zinc #1 Site

EPA Region 7 is conducting a 

time-critical removal action 

at several properties in Iola, 

Kansas based on sampling performed 

in April that revealed lead concentrations in soil above acceptable thresholds. The properties are part of the 

United Zinc #1 Superfund site, named 

after a zinc and lead smelter that operated from 1902 to 1912. EPA 

will oversee removal of lead-contaminated soils from schools, 

daycares, residences, and industrial 

sites within the city limits. 

The United Zinc #1 site was one 

of several zinc and lead smelting operations in the area. Sampling results showed elevated lead concentrations throughout the city, especially in 

older neighborhoods. Interviews with 

long-time residents revealed that material from the smelter was used as fill 

around home foundations, sidewalks, and 

driveways. 

For additional information, contact 

Belinda Young, Community Involvement 

Coordinator, EPA Region 7, 

young.belinda@epa.gov. 

4 cleanupnews
Settlements Ensure Cleanup of 

Contaminated Sites in New Jersey 

EPA has entered into settle- settled their potential liabilities as to cover past and future cleanup costs 

ment agreements with parties to the NCH settlement. at both sites. FMC agreed to pay the 

NCH Corporation (NCH) Under the terms of its settlement, United States approximately $16.7 

and FMC Corporation (FMC) for re- NCH will assume operation of a ground million, reimbursing EPA $14.5 for 

imbursement of costs incurred clean- water treatment plant constructed by past response costs incurred at the 

ing up soil and ground water con- EPA at the Higgins Farm site, saving Higgins Farm site and $2.225 for past 

tamination at the Higgins Farm and the Agency approximately $12 million and interim costs at the Higgins DisHiggins Disposal Superfund sites in in future costs. NCH will also pay more posal site. 

Somerset County, New Jersey. The than $2 million to cover past cleanup For additional information, contact 

Department of Energy (DOE), General costs at both sites. The United States Benjamin Barry, EPA Region 2 Press 

Services Administration (GSA), and has agreed to pay approximately $9.3 Office, (212) 637-3651. 

Department of Defense (DoD) also million on behalf of DOE, GSA, and DoD 

Company Employees Plead Guilty in

Hazardous Waste Conspiracy Case

On July 13 and 14, two 1999 and 2003 to illegally transport, fendants allegedly avoided the costs of 

former employees of store, and dispose of hazardous waste safe disposal by storing hazardous 

Hydromet Environmental in violation of RCRA, and conspiring wastes in a decrepit warehouse in East 

(USA), Inc. pleaded guilty in the U.S. to make false statements to IEPA. Chicago, Indiana; hiding them from 

District Court for the Central District Other charges against the defendants IEPA on site; falsely declaring them to 

of Illinois to criminal charges arising included making false statements to be non-hazardous; and disposing of 

from an indictment returned last IEPA and illegally transporting hazard- them by sending them to a non-hazJanuary. John E. Pugh, a former ous waste without a manifest. The in- ardous landfill in Indianapolis, Indiplant manager, pleaded guilty to vestigation was conducted jointly by ana. The indictment also charged the 

criminal conspiracy, and Ronald I. U.S. EPA’s Criminal Investigation Di- defendants with falsely telling IEPA 

Martin, a former warehouse supervi- vision, the Illinois Department of Natu- that the facility was operational when 

sor, pleaded guilty to making a false ral Resources, and IEPA. it lacked equipment and components 

statement to Illinois EPA (IEPA). Hydromet owned and operated an necessary for proper storage and treatThe 11-count indictment charged unsuccessful hazardous waste recla- ment of hazardous waste. 

Hydromet and five former officers and mation facility in Newman, Illinois. In For additional information, contact 

employees with conspiring between order to maintain operations, the de- Kris Vezner, EPA Region 5, (312) 886-

6827. 

EPA and Kentucky Settle Oil Spill Claims 

On August 15, EPA and the Commonwealth of Kentucky filed a consent decree with the U.S. District Court for the 

Eastern District of Kentucky settling claims under the Clean Water Act stemming from a January 2005 oil spill. MidValley Pipeline Company (Mid-Valley) and pipeline operator Sunoco Pipeline L.P. (SPLP) agreed to pay a penalty of 

$2.57 million for releasing approximately 260,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers. 

The spill resulted from failure of a girth weld in a 22-inch-diameter pipe that had been in service since 1950. The oil 

slick was over 17 miles long and harmed hundreds of migratory waterfowl. The consent decree also imposes a $300,000 

penalty on Mid-Valley and another pipeline operator, Sun Pipe Line Company, for a November 2000 spill of approximately 63,000 gallons into Campit Lake in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. The consent decree apportions $1.4 million of 

the Mid-Valley/SPLP penalty to the United States and $1.17 million to Kentucky. It also requires Mid-Valley and SPLP 

to reimburse more than $120,000 of Kentucky’s response costs. All penalty amounts due the United States, including the 

entire Lake Campit penalty, will be deposited in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. 

For additional information, contact Carl Terry, EPA Region 4 Press Office, (404) 562-8325. 

In the Spotlight

cleanupnews 5
In The Courts

On Remand, 

Federal Court 

Rejects PRP 

Rights Under 

CERCLA Section 

107 

By Clarence E. Featherson, OSRE 

The U.S. District Court for the 

Northern District of Texas has held 

that PRPs do not have a cost recovery 

right or an implied contribution right 

under CERCLA Section 107. Aviall 

Services, Inc. v. Cooper Industries, 2006 

WL 2263305, (N.D. Tex. Aug. 8, 2006) 

(Aviall). 

Aviall Services, Inc. voluntarily incurred response costs to clean up contaminated property for which both 

Aviall and Cooper Industries were liable. Aviall then tried to recover 

CERCLA cleanup costs from Cooper 

through a Section 113 contribution 

action. In Aviall Services, Inc. v. Cooper Industries, 543 U.S. 157 (2004), 

the U.S. Supreme Court held that 

parties may bring contribution claims 

under Section 113(f)(1) only “during 

or following a civil action.” The Court 

remanded the issue of whether a PRP 

could seek cost recovery or contribution under Section 107. 

On remand, the district court concluded that because Congress had created a contribution scheme in Section 

113, reading a cost recovery right for 

PRPs into Section 107 “would at a 

minimum render key provisions of 

Section 113(f) superfluous, insignificant, or, in some instances, devoid of 

operative effect.” The court stated 

that because Section 113 contains the 

limitation of “during or following a 

civil action”, and Section 107 does not, 

“there is no reason why Congress 

would specify such a condition yet also 

allow a contribution action absent the 

condition.” 

For additional information, contact 

Tina Skaar, (202) 564-0895. 

6 cleanupnews 

Second Circuit 

Holds that PRPs 

May Recover 

Costs Incurred 

Voluntarily Under 

CERCLA Section 

107 

By Clarence E. Featherson, OSRE 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 

Second Circuit (2nd Cir.) has ruled that 

PRPs may recover voluntarily incurred 

response costs under CERCLA Section 

107, but rejected the plaintiff’s claim 

because he failed to bring it within 

CERCLA’s six-year statute of limitations. Schaefer v. Town of Victor, 2006 

WL1921940 (2nd Cir. July 13, 2006). 

Schaefer operated a landfill and incurred response costs in the process of 

closing it. He sued the Town of Victor, 

New York and other alleged waste contributors for contribution under 

CERCLA Section 107. The Second 

Circuit cited its previous ruling in Consolidated Edison Co. v. UGI Utilities, Inc., 423 F.3d 90 (2nd Cir. 2005), 

that a PRP may rely on Section 107 for 

cost recovery only if its response costs 

were incurred voluntarily, e.g., under a 

voluntary cleanup agreement, not if it 

incurred them as a result of being sued 

or being the subject of an administrative proceeding. 

Schaefer had entered into two consent orders with the New York State 

Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), in 1990 and in 1992, 

but had apparently begun incurring 

costs of preparing the landfill for closure in 1987. The Second Circuit 

viewed these pre-consent order response actions as voluntary, but ruled 

that they triggered CERCLA’s six-year 

limitation period for recovering remedial response costs, which had expired 

by the time Schaefer filed his lawsuit 

against the Town of Victor. 

For additional information, contact 

Clarence E. Featherson, (202) 564-

4234. 

Eighth Circuit 

Affirms PRP Cost 

Recovery or 

Contribution 

Under CERCLA 

Section 107 

By Clarence E. Featherson, OSRE 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 

Eight Circuit (Eighth Circuit) has held 

that a PRP may pursue an action for 

cost recovery or contribution against 

the United States under CERCLA Section 107. Atlantic Research Corp. v. 

United States, 2006 WL 2321185 (8th 

Cir. Aug. 11, 2006) (ARC). 

Altantic Research Corp. (ARC) incurred costs voluntarily investigating 

and cleaning up soil and ground water 

contamination caused by retrofitting 

rocket motors for the United States. 

Because ARC did not conduct the 

cleanup “during or following a civil action”, however, Cooper Industries, Inc. 

v. Aviall Services, Inc., 125 S.Ct. 577 

(2004) (Aviall) barred it from bringing 

a Section 113(f)(1) contribution claim 

against the United States. Moreover, 

because ARC had not entered into a 

federal or state settlement for voluntary cleanup, it could not bring a Section 113(f)(3)(B) contribution claim. 

Consequently, it sued the United 

States under Section 107 to recover 

cleanup costs. The district court dismissed the claim, citing Eighth Circuit 

precedent that a liable party cannot 

sue under Section 107. 

The Eighth Circuit stated that Aviall 

undermined the prior Eighth Circuit 

precedent cited by the trial court, and 

ruled that a liable party may sue for 

direct recovery of costs under Section 

107, and furthermore, that Congress 

did not eliminate the preexisting implied contribution right under Section 

107 by creating an explicit right to contribution in Section 113. 

For additional information, Clarence 

E. Featherson, (202) 564-4234 or

Joshua Epstein, (202) 564-6009. 
Lynn Buhl 

Appointed OECA 

Deputy Assistant 

Administrator 

Assistant Administrator Granta 

Nakayama announced that Lynn Buhl 

would join OECA on September 5 as 

Deputy Assistant Administrator. 

Ms. Buhl has spent the last three 

years as a senior advisor to Maryland 

Governor Robert Ehrlich on environmental and policy issues, most recently 

serving as Deputy Secretary of the 

Department of Natural Resources as 

Chief Operating Officer. In that post, 

she was responsible for policy development, program adjustments, communications issues, and personnel 

matters. Prior to that, she served as 

the Acting Secretary of the Department of the Environment and co-chair 

of the governor’s team responsible for 

developing and guiding legislation to 

reform Maryland’s contaminated site 

cleanup program. 

Earlier in her career, Ms. Buhl served 

as an Assistant Regional Counsel in 

EPA Region 5, an Attorney Advisor on 

the CERCLA Reauthorization Task 

Force in the Office of the Administrator in Washington, D.C., Director of the 

Southeast Offices of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, 

and Senior Staff Counsel for Environmental Legal Affairs at DaimlerChrysler Corporation, where she managed Superfund cases and UST compliance and insurance issues. 

John B. Askew 

Appointed Region 

7 Administrator 

EPA Administrator Stephen L. 

Johnson has appointed John B. 

Askew, president of the Iowa Soybean 

Association, to be the new EPA Region 7 Administrator. 

Mr. Askew is a row crop producer of 

corn, soybeans, and alfalfa, as well as 

a specialty crop producer of contract 

popcorn and a marketer of white and 

food-grade yellow corn to tortilla processors and exporters. He is a producer representative to the Federal 

Crop Insurance Corporation, and a 

member of the Iowa Corn Grower’s 

Association, the Iowa Farm Bureau, 

the American Soybean Association, 

and the American Farm Bureau Federation. Mr. Askew also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy 

from Iowa State University. 

EPA Administrator Johnson said 

that Mr. Askew “has developed and 

implemented agronomic and environmental programs that help farmers 

evaluate alternative management 

practices, incorporate environmental 

management programs, and use watershed programming so they can become better growers, better managers, and better environmental stewards.” 

Mr. Askew’s swearing in took place 

at a ceremony on September 7. 

For additional information, contact 

Patrick Bustos, EPA Region 7, (913) 

551-7969 or bustos.patrick@epa.gov. 

EPA’s mission is to protect our 

nation’s land, air and water. 

Citizens can help by reporting 

potential environmental violations 

at (800) 424-8802. 

EPA Updates 

Murphy Oil Site 

Sampling Results 

EPA updated its Web site on July 13 

to include results of additional samples 

collected at the Murphy Oil site in St. 

Bernard Parish, Louisiana. EPA is 

overseeing Murphy Oil’s sampling activities pursuant to a FEMA Mission 

Assignment. The newly published results relate to samples taken as part 

of two ongoing efforts. 

The first set of samples relates to 

assessment of contamination levels at 

residential and other sites. EPA 

posted the results for 835 such 

samples, representing about 10 percent 

of the samples Murphy Oil has taken 

to date. EPA sends these “split” 

samples out for independent analysis. 

The other set relates to soil samples 

taken after cleanup to confirm that the 

cleanup has achieved the Louisiana 

Department of Environmental 

Quality’s Risk Evaluation/Corrective 

Action Program (RECAP) Standards. 

EPA posted the results of 40 such 

samples, again representing about 10 

percent of the total taken by Murphy 

Oil so far. The levels of hazardous compounds detected in these samples were 

below applicable RECAP standards. 

An aboveground storage tank at 

Murphy Oil’s Mereaux Refinery was 

dislodged, lifted, and damaged in flooding associated with Hurricane Katrina. 

At the time, it contained 65,000 barrels of mixed crude oil, about 25,110 

barrels (1.05 million gallons) of which 

were released. The released oil affected 

approximately 1,700 homes in a onesquare-mile area as well as several canals. Murphy Oil notified EPA of the 

spill and requested assistance on September 4, 2005. EPA Plans to conduct 

additional sampling and other response actions in coming months. 

For additional information, contact 

Beverly Negri, EPA Region 6, (214) 665-

8157. 

Tidbits

cleanupnews 7
Calendar September 19-21, 2006 

Waste 2006 

Stratford upon Avon, United 

Kingdom 

September 19-21, 2006 

WASTECON 2006 

Charlotte, North Carolina 

October 16-19, 2006 

Annual Conference on Soils, 

Sediments and Water 

University of Massachusetts at 

Amherst 

October 22-25, 2006 

National Recycling Coalition 

25th Annual Congress and Expo 

Atlanta, Georgia 

October 23-27, 2006 

2006 National NAHMMA 

Conference 

Bloomington, Minnesota 

October 30 -

November 1, 2006 

2006 Land Revitalization 

Summit 

Austin, Texas 

November 13-15, 2006 

Brownfields 2006 Conference 

Boston, Massachusetts 

November 21-24, 2006 

International Ecological Fair 

Poleko 2006 

Poznán, Poland 

December 3-6, 2006 

2006 Emergency Preparedness 

and Prevention and Hazmat 

Spills Conference 

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania 

January 22-25, 2007 

Fourth International Conference 

on Remediation of Contaminated 

Sediments 

Savannah, Georgia 

Glossary 

CERCLA Comprehensive Environmental OSRE Office of Site Remediation 

Response, Compensation, and Enforcement 

Liability Act 

OSWER Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 

EPA Environmental Protection Agency Response 

GIS Geographic information system 

NPL National Priorities List 

OECA Office of Enforcement and


Compliance Assurance


cleanupnews

CleanupNews is a monthly publication of EPA’s 

Office of Site Remediation Enforcement, in 

cooperation with the Office of Superfund 

Remediation and Technology Innovation, Office 

of Underground Storage Tanks, and Office of 

Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and 

Response. Past issues of CleanupNews can 

PRP Potentially responsible party 

RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery 

Act 

UST Underground storage tank 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/about/offices/osre.html 

Richard W. Popino, PhD, REM, REPA, editor-in-chief 

Mary McCullough, EPA Technical Advisor 

EPA Review Board; Diane Bartosh, Sandra 

Connors, Karen Ellenberger, Elliott Gilberg, Jeff 

Heimerman, Kenneth Patterson, Ann Pontius, 

Suzanne Wells 

be found at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/ Cheryl Hasty, Amethyst Matthews, Don Allen, resources/newsletters/cleanup DPRA Inc., writers cleanupnews.html Mary Spencer, 

DPRA Inc., designer 

To comment on the newsletter contact Dr. Richard W. Popino, at MC-2271A, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460, e-mail: popino.rick@epa.gov. 

To be added to or deleted from the CleanupNews e-mail subscriber list, go to 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/listserv/cleanup.html.