EPA Pledges over $75 Million for Brownfields 

On June 15, 2004, EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt promised a record $75.4 million to 

communities working to cleanup and redevelop abandoned and underused properties. 

The recipient communities and five tribal nations will use the grant money to plan 

cleanups and conduct cleanup activities. The Administrator made the announcement on 

the grounds of the former Ampco Metal Inc. facility in Milwaukee, an area once used as a 

foundry that is being redeveloped as a business park. 

In total, 265 grants will go to communities in 42 states and Puerto Rico. The grant 

money will be distributed as 155 assessment grants, 92 cleanup grants, and 18 revolving 

loan grants. The recipients will use the grant money for a wide range of purposes. Toa 

Baja, a municipality in Puerto Rico with an unemployment rate of 41 percent, will use an 

assessment grant to perform assessments and create plans for cleaning up potential 

contamination and redeveloping land around the La Plata River. In the past, the La Plata 

had frequently flooded, forcing businesses to relocate; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

will be channeling the river, which will allow businesses to return. The Gila River Indian 

Community in Arizona has received a cleanup grant to remediate contamination from a 

leaking underground storage tank and redevelop the site as a Diabetes Education and 

Resource Center. The center will be a true resource for a community where nearly half 

of the residents suffer from diabetes. And the Richmond Redevelopment Agency of 

Richmond, California received a $1 million revolving loan which it will use to redevelop 

sites across the city. Nearly 700 acres of brownfields have been identified within the 

city. 

Additional information about the grant recipients is available at: 

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields. 

Florence Township Superfund Site Removed 

from NPL 

In a May 13, 2004 Federal Register notice, EPA announced the deletion of the Florence 

Land Recontouring Landfill Site from the National Priorities List (NPL). The 60-acre 

former municipal solid waste disposal facility, located in a residential and mixed 

agriculture area of Florence Township in New Jersey, was originally placed on the NPL 

in September 1984. After a nearly $20 million cleanup effort, the site no longer poses a 

threat to human health or the environment. 

Two lagoons, a pond, two tanks, and a 29-acre landfill make up the site. The landfill 

accepted sanitary and non-chemical wastes from 1973 to 1981. In 1975, the New Jersey 

Department of Environmental Protection investigated the site and discovered 95 tons of 

illegally-disposed chemical waste, including volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, 

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and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Testing of groundwater, leachate from the 

landfill, and soil revealed elevated levels of the hazardous substances. The landfill was 

officially closed when the State issued an Administrative Order on Consent requiring its 

closure and denying its application for expansion. 

A Record of Decision declaring the selected remedy for the site was issued in 1986. The 

remedy included construction of a cap over the landfill, a containment wall surrounding 

the landfill, and a groundwater interceptor and stormwater management system. The 

remedy also required the treatment and disposal of contaminated leachate, collection and 

treatment of landfill gas, removal and disposal of lagoon liquids and sediments, and 

removal and disposal of surface debris. 

Site remediation activities were completed in 1994. A permanent leachate disposal 

system was selected and implemented in 1998. EPA proposed the deletion of the site in 

February 2004, and the first five-year review was conducted in March 2004. Under the 

National Contingency Plan, deletion of sites from the NPL does not exempt responsible 

parties from liability nor does it prevent EPA from recovering response costs associated 

with the site. In addition, if conditions at the site require any further remedial action, 

NPL deletion does not preclude taking remedial action. 

For additional information, contact Jim Haklar, EPA Region 2, (212) 637-3677. 

Former Quarry Replaced by Manufacturing 

Facility 

A new manufacturing plant recently opened on a former Superfund site, the 20-acre 

Western Sand and Gravel quarry in Burrillville, Rhode Island. The 20,000-ft. Supreme 

Mid-Atlantic facility produces truck body parts and currently employs roughly 30 people 

from the community and may eventually employ as many as 300. The property has been 

redeveloped thanks to the efforts of state and local officials and Supreme Mid-Atlantic. 

Years after the former quarry had been capped and the land was fenced and unused, 

Supreme Mid-Atlantic considered purchasing the property. In 2001, Supreme MidAtlantic entered into a prospective purchaser agreement with EPA to purchase the site. 

As part of the agreement, the company paid EPA $25,000 and agreed to provide EPA 

access to the site, file a deed notifying potential future owners of the site of the site 

remedy, and comply with the institutional controls. EPA made a covenant not to sue 

Supreme Mid-Atlantic for contamination that existed prior to its purchase of the property. 

The land was used as a quarry from 1953 to 1975. From 1975 to 1979, liquid wastes, 

including chemicals and septic waste, were dumped in unlined pits. As a result, the soil 

and groundwater were contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOC), including 

trichloroethylene and toluene. EPA pumped 60,000 gallons of VOC-contaminated liquid 

from the ponds in 1980. The quarry was among the 406 sites added to the National 

Priorities List when it was first promulgated in September 1983. Through a 1987 

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Consent Decree, 45 potentially responsible parties agreed to install a 2-acre cap over the 

contaminated soil and sludge and to reimburse EPA for its response costs. The 

potentially responsible parties completed the remedy outlined in three Records of 

Decision and some are responsible for overseeing the ongoing natural attenuation of 

groundwater at the site. 

For additional information, contact Dave Deegan, EPA Region 1, (617) 918-1017. 

EPA Awards Community Involvement 

At the annual Community Involvement Conference in Denver, Colorado, EPA presented 

the 2004 Citizen Excellence in Community Involvement Award to the members of 

Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste (CCAT) on June 17, 2004. The award recognizes 

CCAT’s efforts to inform and educate the people of Fremont County, Colorado about 

toxic and radioactive waste in their community. 

CCAT’s goal is to learn about industrial processes that threaten natural resources and the 

health of their citizens and to convey this information to the public. CCAT began as a 

group of citizens concerned that Cotter Uranium Mill, operated by Cotter Corporation 

since 1958, wanted to change from processing to direct disposal of radioactive waste 

without proper licensing. The mill is part of a Superfund site, Lincoln Park Superfund 

Site; over the years, tailings from Cotter’s ore mining operations contaminated the soil 

and groundwater with molybdenum and uranium. Members of the community were 

outraged that Cotter was attempting to receive waste without a license and formed CCAT 

to raise awareness of Cotter’s plans. CCAT informed the public and elected officials of 

the state’s re-licensing process and asked that citizens’ concerns be heard in a public 

forum. Through CCAT’s public awareness campaign, the Colorado State House passed 

two bills that ensure public involvement in the health department’s licensing process 

when a facility wants to accept waste. 

CCAT conducts regular community meetings to update citizens about the Lincoln Park 

Superfund Site. The group also submits material to the media, distributes flyers, and 

encourages citizens to make informed choices during election years. Most people 

involved in CCAT have other full-time jobs and voluntarily dedicate personal time to 

CCAT’s goals. 

With a $50,000 Technical Assistance Grant from EPA, CCAT was able to hire technical 

advisors to inform them about the scientific aspects of Lincoln Park. Through 

collaboration with CCAT, EPA has developed open public meetings in Canon City, 

Colorado that allow local residents to ask questions of EPA officials. In addition, the 

EPA Community Involvement Coordinator is working with CCAT to launch 

videoconferencing between citizens and EPA experts to facilitate communication without 

travel costs. 

Additional information about CCAT is available on their website: 

http://www.ccatoxicwaste.org/index.html. 

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Demolition to Begin at Atlas Tack Superfund 

Site 

On May 21, 2004, EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt visited the Atlas Tack Superfund Site 

in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. During the visit, Leavitt announced $1.8 million in funding 

to begin Phase I of the site’s $18 million cleanup plan. 

Phase I of the cleanup plan involves demolishing two buildings and the power plant 

located at the site. EPA removed asbestos from the buildings in 2000. Demolition will 

begin this August and is expected to be complete by this December. Once Phase I is 

complete, Phase II, which consists of removing and disposing of contaminated soil, 

debris, and sediments, can begin. Phase II will be followed by Phase III, the excavation 

of marsh soils and creek bed sediments. Phytoremediation will be used to prevent the 

spread of residual contaminated groundwater from the site. 

Since the Atlas Tack site appeared on the National Priorities List in 1990, EPA has spent 

approximately $6 million on site investigations and cleanup plan development. In March 

2004, EPA and Hathaway-Brawley (one of several potentially responsible parties) 

entered into a consent decree that requires Hathaway-Brawley to reimburse EPA, the 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Department of the Interior, and the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for past and future response costs and damage 

assessment costs. An article about the Atlas Tack consent decree appeared in the 

CleanupNews II - May 2004 issue, available online at: 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/newsletters/cleanup/cleanup16s.pdf. 

This coming September, EPA’s suit against Atlas Tack Corporation and its President, M. 

Leonard Lewis, which was filed last year, is expected to go to trial. EPA is seeking 

reimbursement for past and future response costs at the site. 

For additional information, contact Dave Deegan, EPA Region 1, (617) 918-1017. 

Oregon Announces Economic Development 

Initiatives 

On May 13, 2004, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski announced that 11 industrial sites 

had been designed “project ready.” The “project ready” program streamlines the 

permitting process and makes it easier for companies to purchase and begin redeveloping 

available industrial sites. Sites certified as “project ready” have been reviewed by a third 

party verifier and are guaranteed ready for construction in six months or less. The basis 

for certification is 16 site requirements including the size, physical topography, and 

zoning of the site; the availability of transportation infrastructure; the availability of 

utilities such as water and electricity; and the availability of a local labor force. 

Participation in the Industrial Site Certification Program is voluntary, and the State’s 

Economic and Community Development Department processes the certification requests. 

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Currently, there is no application fee for willing participants and once granted, 

certification expires 2 years later, with an option for renewal. 

The governor also announced the launch of the Oregon Prospector website, 

http://www.oregonprospector.com, a resource for developers considering Oregon 

properties. The website lists all properties that have been certified or are being 

considered for certification. A site profile is provided for each property including a 

detailed site description, site certification status, landowner contact information, and site 

photographs. Industry relocation and expansion decision-makers can use these profiles 

when considering where to locate. The website provides other tools, including 

“community resumes,” that allow prospective developers to consider all aspects of an 

area. 

The “project ready” certification program and Oregon Prospector website are a joint 

marketing effort by private sector partners, Pacific Power, the Oregon Economic 

Development Association, and the state to increase economic development. To date only 

New York and Pennsylvania have launched similar industrial development programs. 

Oregon economic development officials expect to announce additional site certifications 

this fall. 

For additional information, contact Gabrielle Schiffer, Special Projects Coordinator, 

gabrielle.schiffer@state.or.us. 

City of Los Angeles Publishes Guide for 

Abandoned Gas Stations 

In February 2004, the City of Los Angeles Brownfields Program published a 

redevelopment guide entitled Guide to Resolving Environmental and Legal Issues at 

Abandoned and Underutilized Gas Station Sites. The guide provides information and 

resources for all aspects of rehabilitating former gas station sites including gathering site 

information, resolving site status issues, conducting site investigations, paying for site 

activities, and gaining site access. The City of Los Angeles developed the guide as a 

resource for public agencies but recognized that the information would have value for 

other local governments, developers, and concerned citizens as well. In addition to cityspecific information about abandoned gas stations, the guide also provides an appendix 

with general resources and information about relevant federal and state regulations. 

Los Angeles recently expanded its Brownfields Program to include redevelopment of 

abandoned gas stations. As part of this program expansion, the City investigated former 

gas station sites and found that most are still occupied by active businesses such as 

automotive repair shops and used car sales. After reviewing the site search results, Gas 

Station Program personnel decided to focus on redeveloping abandoned sites to avoid the 

complications of dealing with current landowners and business owners. The guide’s 

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main focus is redeveloping abandoned sites, however, the practices and resources are also 

applicable to former gas station sites with active business operations. 

The guide is available online at: 

http://www.lacity.org/EAD/labf/Gas%20Station%20Guide.htm. 

For additional information, contact Craig Tranby, City of Los Angeles, 

ctranby@mailbox.lacity.org. 

In The Courts 

Court Finds Earlier Settlement Does Not Bar 

Cost Recovery Claim 

By David Dowton, Office of Site Remediation Enforcement 

On June 3, 2004, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held in Norfolk Southern Corp. v. 

Chevron (2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 10945) that a settlement between two companies may 

not preclude a subsequent suit to recover the costs of cleaning up additional 

contamination at the same site. 

Norfolk’s predecessor company, St. Johns River Terminal Co., leased land to Chevron’s 

predecessor, Gulf Oil, for the construction of above-ground tanks to store fuel and oil. In 

1977, the Coast Guard discovered that oil was leaking from the site and contaminating a 

nearby creek. St. Johns cleaned the site and sued Gulf for reimbursement of the cleanup 

costs. The two parties ultimately settled with Gulf paying a portion of the costs, and in 

return, St. Johns released Gulf and its successors from liability for future oil 

contamination. 

Twenty-two years later, Norfolk discovered that contaminated sludge from the storage 

tanks had spread from the tanks to a salt marsh. Norfolk sued Chevron seeking 

reimbursement of the costs associated with cleaning up the contaminated sludge. 

Chevron moved for summary judgment arguing that the settlement entered into in 1977 

precluded Norfolk for bringing suit for contamination related to the leased property. The 

district court granted Chevron’s motion noting that Norfolk’s claim was barred under res 

judicata because the settlement failed to expressly permit any future claims based on 

contamination from the site. 

The Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding that the district court erred in assuming that all 

subsequent claims were barred under the terms of the 1977 settlement. The court 

reasoned that the release contained in the settlement does not cover non-oil 

contamination. Despite the fact that the sludge came from the storage tanks, the court 

found that the contaminated sludge was sufficiently different from oil so that it fell 

outside the scope of the settlement and therefore, Norfolk’s suit against Chevron could 

proceed. 

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For additional information, contact David Dowton, OSRE, (202) 564-4228. 

EPA Reaches Agreement to Fund Study of 

Lower Passaic River 

EPA recently announced that 31 parties would contribute $10 million to the Remedial 

Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) of the Lower Passaic River Superfund Site. EPA 

Regional Administrator, Jane M. Kenny, praised the parties’ commitment. Alcan 

Corporation, BASF Corporation, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Lucent 

Technologies, Inc., and Pfizer Corporation are among the settling parties entering into the 

Administrative Order on Consent (AOC). The total estimated cost of the Lower Passaic 

Restoration Project, which includes the RI/FS, is $19 million, and the contribution by the 

parties will pay EPA’s response costs. 

In an interagency agreement, EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the 

New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) have partnered on an integrated 

watershed plan to restore ecological health, improve water quality, and manage 

contaminated sediments. USACE and NJDOT are joining their authority under the Water 

Resources Development Act with EPA’s authorities through the Superfund program to 

remediate and restore the 17-mile affected area of the Lower Passaic River. Over the 

course of the project, EPA, USACE, and NJDOT will team with other federal and state 

agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the New Jersey Department of 

Environmental Protection, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric 

Administration. 

In the early 1980s, EPA conducted an initial study and cleanup of dioxin-contaminated 

soil at the Diamond Alkali manufacturing site along the Passaic River in Newark, NJ. 

The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1984. During studies of the adjacent 

Passaic River, EPA identified more contaminants, including persistent organic 

compounds, pesticides, and metals. An interim remedy was put in place to prevent 

further contaminant migration from the site and begin treating the groundwater. The 

remedy included building slurry and flood walls around the property, constructing a 

pump and treat system for groundwater, and capping the contaminated soil. 

EPA submitted the AOC for a 30-day public comment period, which ended June 18, 

2004. 

For additional information, contact Alice Yeh, EPA Region 2, (212) 637-4427. 

Tidbits 

Revised SAS Guidance Issued 

EPA recently issued a revised version of the guidance titled “Revised Response Selection 

and Settlement Approach for Superfund Alternative Sites Guidance” (Revised SAS 

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Guidance), which supersedes the original June 24, 2002 SAS Guidance. The guidance 

can be found at: 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/policies/cleanup/superfund/rev-sas-04.pdf. 

For additional information, contact Anne Berube, OSRE, (202) 564-6065. 

New Brownfields Web-Based Tools 

EPA has announced two new web-based tools for identifying brownfields that have been 

grant recipients. The Brownfields “Envirofacts” tool allows users to identify brownfields 

by searching by area served or jurisdiction, type of grant, geographic information, or 

property. The search will return a list of all grants matching the user’s search criteria 

from the Brownfields Management System database. The system allows users to access 

the Grants Information and Control System and view contact information for a grant. 

The second tool, “EnviroMapper” for Brownfields, enables users to search by 

Brownfields grant type (i.e., assessment, revolving loan, job training, and showcase) for a 

selected area and view the results on an interactive map. Users also have the option of 

viewing all Brownfields grant sites in the entire United States. 

Both tools can be accessed through the Brownfields program’s “Find EPA Brownfields 

Projects Where You Live” website at: http://epa.gov/brownfields/bfwhere.htm. 

Calendar 

August 1-4, 2004 

ACHMM 2004 annual conference – “Managing Your Odds for Success” 

Las Vegas, NV 

Contact: Hillary Zelnick, (703) 610-1271 

http://www.meetingsmanagementgroup.com/achmm/lasvegas_2004/index.htm

August 16-18, 2004 

ASTSWMO 2004 Superfund Program Managers Symposium 

Phoenix, AZ 

Contact: Jocelyn Scott, (202) 564-4795

September 13-15, 2004 

2004 Fractured Rock Conference: State of the Science and Measuring Success in 

Remediation

Portland, ME 

http://www.ngwa.org/e/conf/0409135017.shtml

September 20-22, 2004 

Brownfields 2004: “Gateway to Revitalization” 

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St. Louis, MO 

http://www.brownfields2004.org 

October 24-27, 2004 

First Biennial Central & Eastern European Environmental Health Conference 

International Health Sciences Solving Common Problems 

Prague, Czech Republic 

Contact: Ms. Nancy White, (979) 845-0203 

http://tti.tamu.edu/conferences/ceehc/

Glossary 

AOC Administrative Order on Consent 

CCAT Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste 

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 

NJDOT New Jersey Department of Transportation 

NPL National Priorities List 

OSRE Office of Site Remediation Enforcement 

OSWER Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response 

PRPs Potentially responsible parties 

RI/FS Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study 

SAS Superfund Alternative Sites 

USACE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

VOCs Volatile organic compounds 

Subscription Information 

Richard W. Popino, PhD REM, Editor in Chief 

Review Board: Diane Bartosh, Paul Connor, Sandra Connors, Karen Ellenberger, Elliott 

Gilberg, Jeff Heimerman, Kenneth Patterson, Neilima Senjalia, Suzanne Wells 

Christine Rueter, Sarah Heberling, Betsy Anderson, DPRA, Inc., writers 

Lauren Grantham, DPRA, Inc., designer 

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To comment on the newsletter contact Richard W. Popino, PhD REM, at MC-2271A, US 

EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460, email: 

popino.rick@epa.gov. 

To be added to or deleted from the subscriber list, contact Anne Politis at: 

anne.politis@dpra.com. 

CleanupNews is a 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. CleanupNews II is an electronic supplement to the 

CleanupNews print edition. The print issue is available four times a year, and the 

newsletter will be delivered electronically eight times a year (four issues consisting of the 

print edition and four issues consisting of supplemental news). 

Past issues can be found at: 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/newsletters/cleanup/cleanupnews.html

To receive CleanupNews by email, subscribe at: 

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

CleanupNewsII Issue 17S - 10