Office of Site Remediation 

Enforcement (2271A) December 2006 

Washington, DC 20460 Issue #31 

cleanupnews 

Scott Sherman 

inside Appointed New OSWER

Hudson River Settlement 2 Associate Assistant 

2006 Brownfields Conference Administrator 

1,000th Construction Completion 3 

Scott Sherman was re- that includes a B.A. with HighDenver Radium 4 cently appointed Associ- est Honors from the University 

San Gabriel Valley ate Assistant Adminis- of Texas, a J.D. cum laude from 

Historic MDI Pact 5 and Emergency

trator of the Office of Solid Waste Harvard Law School, and an

M.S. in real estate 

FY2006 Accomplishments Response from Johns 

(OSWER). Mr. Hopkins UniverIn the Courts 6 Sherman had sity. His research 

ARC Cert. Petition been serving as at Johns Hopkins 

DuPont Cert. Petition EPA’s Associate focused on cleanup 

Clay/Superior Cert. Petition General Counsel and redevelopfor Solid Waste ment of brownfield 

Tidbits 7 and Emergency properties. Mr. 

Mike Cook Retires Response, the se- Sherman has been 

Record UST Penalty nior Agency legal an adjunct profes9/11 Response counselor for haz- sor at Johns 

ardous and solid Hopkins since 

Calendar 8 waste manage- 2003, teaching in 

Glossary ment programs OSWER Associate the university’s 

and cleanup ini- Assistant Administrator business program 

tiatives. As Asso- Scott Sherman where he adciate General dresses environCounsel, he managed the Solid mental issues in real estate. 

Waste and Emergency Response In his new post at OSWER, Mr. 

division of EPA’s Office of General Sherman will be focusing on 

Counsel (OGC). policy development and implePrior to his most recent position mentation of initiatives in proat OGC, Mr. Sherman served as a grams as diverse as Superfund, 

Special Assistant Attorney Gen- RCRA, emergency management, 

eral for the State of Texas energy federal facilities, brownfields, 

and environmental commission- underground storage tanks, and 

CleanupNews is a monthly ers. He also held positions as se- land revitalization. 

newsletter highlighting hazardous nior legal and policy advisor to the For additional information, waste cleanup cases, policies, 

settlements and technologies. state’s energy and environmental contact Mr. Sherman’s special ascommissioners. sistant, Lauren Mical, OSWER, 

Mr. Sherman has a distin- (202) 566-0189 or 

guished educational background mical.lauren@epa.gov. 

Printed on recycled paper 
Highlights

Federal Court Approves Hudson River 

PCB Settlement 

On November 2, 2006, U.S. 

District Court Judge David 

Hurd approved a settlement 

between EPA and General Electric 

Company (GE), and entered a consent 

decree that will allow the cleanup of 

polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination affecting a 200-mile 

stretch of the Hudson River to proceed. 

Under the terms of the consent decree, 

originally agreed upon in October 2005, 

GE will reimburse EPA $26 million for 

past response costs and up to $17 million for the cost of the first phase of 

remedial activity, which consists of 

dredging the river. 

GE had proposed entry of the decree 

in October 2005, but a substantive 

comment received during the public 

comment period objected to a material term of the settlement, namely the 

waiver of CERCLA Section 121(e) permit requirements in respect of the 

sediment processing/transfer facility 

(treatment facility), a key element of 

the remedy. 

The legal challenge, brought by the 

Town of Fort Edward, New York, where 

the proposed facility will be located, 

disputed inclusion of the treatment facility in the permit waiver because the 

facility will be located more than a mile 

from the river. CERCLA Section 121(e) 

provides that permits will not be required for “the portion of any removal 

or remedial action conducted entirely 

onsite.” EPA contended that the nature of the site, which lies along 200 

miles of the river, and the facility’s location along the Champlain Canal, a 

direct water route to the river, made it 

reasonable to consider that a facility 

located more than a mile away was nevertheless onsite. The district court 

agreed with EPA that the treatment 

facility will be located “entirely” onsite 

for purposes of Section 121(e). Judge 

Hurd stated in his Memorandum Decision and Order that the location satisfied the “onsite” requirement because it “is necessary, suitable, and 

in very close proximity to the contaminated Hudson River.” 

In addition to the payment terms, 

the settlement requires GE to construct the treatment facility and perform at least the first phase of the 

dredging. The first phase is estimated 

to take one year and to remove about 

10 percent of total PCB-contaminated 

sediment. The second phase, which is 

expected to take five years and remove 

the remaining contamination, will 

proceed only after an independent peer 

review panel conducts a thorough 

evaluation of the first phase. 

For additional information, contact 

Leo Rosales, Hudson River Field Office, (518) 747-4389 or 

rosales.leo@epa.gov. 

Highlights from the 2006 Brownfields 

Conference 

The 2006 Brownfields Conference was held November 13-

15 in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference schedule included over 150 educational sessions 

for the approximately 5,500 conference registrants to attend as well as 

mobile workshops and tours that took 

participants out of the conference center and into redevelopment projects 

in Boston and surrounding communities. 

The keynote address was delivered 

by Michael Porter, a professor at 

Harvard Business School and founder 

of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. Mr. Porter provided a new 

perspective on the role brownfields 

redevelopment can play in revitalizing cities. He explained that cleaning 

2 cleanupnews 

up abandoned and contaminated urban 

properties is vital to promoting innercity economic growth as limited space 

for development is a major obstacle 

impeding such growth. 

Other conference programs included 

the Brownfields Bijou, a festival of 

films on environmental themes, and the 

Phoenix Awards ceremony, which recognized superior brownfields redevelopment achievements in each EPA region as well as achievements in community outreach and green building. 

Attendees also had the opportunity to 

learn about local brownfields success 

stories from EPA Administrator 

Stephen Johnson at a plenary session. 

Appropriately, the 2006 conference 

was the “greenest” conference in the 

event’s 11-year history as it ended on 

America Recycles Day. EPA New England took great pains to ensure that 

the conference was a showcase of sustainable event planning. Recycling 

and waste generation reduction techniques included promoting electronic 

registration, using an improved mailing system to reduce duplicate mailings, increasing the use of post-consumer recycled paper in conference 

materials, and a comprehensive recycling and composting program for both 

attendees and food service vendors. 

The date and location of 

Brownfields 2007 will be announced 

January 15. 

For additional information, contact 

Anthony Raia, OSWER, (202) 566-

2758. 
1,000th Superfund Construction 

Completed at Macalloy Corporation Site 

EPA and state officials celebrated Superfund’s 1,000th 

construction completion on 

November 20, 2006 at the Macalloy 

Superfund site, a former metal alloy 

plant in North Charleston, South Caroin the production of stainless steel. The 

plant ceased operation in July 1998 

shortly after the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control issued an emergency order 

halting the collection of shrimp and 

system to manage surface water by 

consolidating discharge points with 

physical barriers and collection basins. Construction of the remedy began in October 2004 under a consent 

decree with Macalloy and another 

lina, marking a major step toward PRP, British Oxygen Corporation. 

OSWER News

the site’s joining more than 400 con- EPA oversaw the removal and ontaminated properties returned to site treatment of contaminated soil 

beneficial use under the Superfund and sediment, and a 1,000-foot area 

program. The accomplishment is of Shipyard Creek was excavated 

also notable because the site was and filled with clean sediment. 

listed on the NPL only six years ago. Ground water contamination was 

Keynote speaker Susan Bodine, treated by subsurface injection of 

Assistant Administrator of more than 1 million gallons of 

OSWER, said that cleanups like the chemical reagent. Ashley II, a real 

one at the Macalloy site make pos- estate partnership, purchased the 

sible “revitalization and reuse of site in 2005 and has worked with 

once contaminated sites so that EPA to redevelop it. Most of the 

they contribute to the health of lo- site will serve as a new port for the 

cal economies instead of dragging Charleston area, and many local 

them down.” 

The Macalloy site cleanup addressed chromium and other heavy 

metal contamination resulting from 

57 years of ferrochromium production. 

Ferrochromium is a metal alloy used 

Aerial view of the Macalloy site after 

completion of all construction 

activities. 

shellfish from nearby Shipyard Creek. 

EPA issued an AOC under which 

Macalloy Corporation constructed a 

businesses and industries plan to 

relocate on the rest. 

For additional information, contact Craig Zeller, RPM, (404) 562-

8827, or Laura Niles, Region 4 Press 

Office, (404) 562-8353. 

Jim Woolford Appointed OSRTI Director

OSWER Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine an 

nounced the appointment 

of Jim Woolford as the new permanent Director of the Office of Superfund 

Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI) at the Superfund division directors’ meeting held November 30, 2006. Mr. Woolford had been 

serving as Director of the Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office 

(FFRRO) where he also served as the 

national program manager for EPA 

policy and guidance related to 

Superfund cleanup and property 

transfer at federal facilities, including sites under the jurisdiction of the 

Base Realignment and Closure Commission. 

Jim Woolford has been at EPA for 

over 20 years. Prior to his service as 

FFRRO director, he was Director of the 

Program Operations Division in the 

Office of Federal Facilities Enforcement 

and a branch chief and section chief in 

the Superfund Enforcement Division of 

the old Office of Waste Programs Enforcement, now OSRE. Mr. Woolford 

began his career at EPA in 1986 as a 

budget and information management 

analyst in the Superfund response program. He holds two degrees in political 

science, a B.A. from the Virginia Institute of Technology and an M.A. from 

the University of North Carolina at 

Chapel Hill. His non-EPA work includes 

three years as a management consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton. 

In one of his last official actions as 

FFRRO director, Jim appointed Gail 

Cooper Deputy Director of FFRRO. 

Ms. Cooper has previously worked in 

the OSWER administrator’s office 

and both the Office of Solid Waste and 

the Office of Water. FFRRO had been 

without a permanent deputy director 

for almost 12 months. Ms. Cooper 

will be the acting Director of FFRRO 

until a replacement is named for Mr. 

Woolford in the near future. 

For additional information, contact 

Sue Sladek, OSWER, (703) 603-8848 

or sladek.susan@epa.gov. 

cleanupnews 3
Cleanup Complete at Denver Radium

Emergency Response

Operable Unit 8

EPA Region 8 recently announced the completion of 

cleanup at the Shattuck 

Chemical site. Shattuck is Operable 

Unit 8 of the Denver Radium 

Superfund site, which consists of 65 

properties that were abandoned after the city’s radium industry collapsed in the 1920s. The S.W. 

Shattuck Chemical Company processed an array of radioactive materials there from 1917 to 1984. Processed ore wastes were left at the site 

when it was closed. Radionuclides of 

concern were radium-226, thorium230, and natural uranium. 

A remedial investigation began in 

1991, and a ROD issued in 1992 selected the first remedy implemented 

at the site. Contaminated soil and 

rubble were solidified with a mixture 

of concrete and fly ash, and covered 

with a cap composed of clay, a 

geosynthetic liner, sand, gravel, and 

riprap. The resulting concrete “monolith” was completed in 1997. During 

the five-year review in December 1999, 

concerns were raised about the 

remedy’s long-term effectiveness. TechTruck atop Shattuck monolith

prior to demolition.

nical deficiencies included vulnerability of the cover and monolith to longterm degradation, and shortcomings 

were identified in the monitoring plans, 

risk assessment, site characterization, 

and modeling. The ROD required the 

owner to place deed restrictions on the 

land to prevent use of potentially contaminated ground water, but the review found that no formal institutional 

controls had been implemented. The 

remedy was reevaluated and the ROD 

was amended in 2000. 

The new remedy consisted of demolishing and removing the encapsulated 

monolith and all affected material, and 

disposing of them off site. Because the 

monolith was 750 feet long, it had to 

be demolished in stages to prevent contamination outside the work area. A 

wheeled enclosure was designed and 

built that covered the section of the 

monolith currently being demolished 

and then was moved to cover the next 

section. In the end, the cleanup action 

required the transport of 2,252 railcars 

containing 243,893 tons of soil and 

monolith material. 

For additional information, contact 

Mike Holmes, RPM, (303) 312-6607 or 

holmes.michael@epa.gov. 

EPA Reaches Cost Recovery Settlements 

at San Gabriel Valley Area 4 

On November 2, 2006, two 

consent decrees were 

lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of 

California that would reimburse EPA 

more than $2 million in response 

costs incurred cleaning up contaminated ground water in Los Angeles’ 

San Gabriel Valley. Parties who allegedly contributed to the contamination are reimbursing both EPA and 

the California Department of Toxic 

Substances Control (DTSC) for costs 

incurred addressing VOC contamination of ground water underlying the 

City of Industry and parts of La 

Puente and Walnut. Rathon Corp. 

and Chemed Corporation have agreed 

to pay $1.76 million to EPA and 

$14,000 to DTSC, while the SaintGobain Corporation will pay $376,320 

to EPA and $2,000 to DTSC. EPA has 

already received approximately $10 

million in prior settlements at the 

Puente Valley operable unit. 

The main contaminants that caused 

the site to be added to the NPL in May 

1984 are trichloroethylene (TCE) and 

perchloroethylene (PCE). State and 

local authorities had detected contamination of area drinking water wells in 

1979. Controlling and removing the 

contamination is imperative because 

an overwhelming majority of the 

valley’s 1 million residents rely on the 

San Gabriel Basin aquifer for drinking 

water. The contamination is thought 

to be the result of widespread mismanagement of industrial solvents by multiple PRPs. 

The remedy selected for the site is 

detailed in an Interim ROD signed on 

September 30, 1998. Changes were set 

forth in a 2005 Explanation of Significant Differences report. The Area 4 

remedy, which is only part of the effort 

to clean up the San Gabriel Valley’s 

ground water, seeks to confine the contamination to the shallow and intermediate zones. Achieving this goal will 

require extracting contaminated 

ground water from newly installed 

wells, treating it, and discharging it to 

a local water supply or to nearby 

Puente Creek. The remedy also calls 

for installation of a ground water monitoring system. 

For additional information, contact 

Dana Barton, RPM, (415) 972-3087. 

4 cleanupnews
Developer Enters Historic Pact to Clean 

Up MDI Site

I

n October 2006, EPA Region 6 

reached an historic prospective 

purchaser agreement (PPA) with 

a property developer, Clinton Gregg 

Investments, L.P. (CGI), to clean up 

approximately 36 acres of the Many 

Diversified Interests, Inc. (MDI) site 

in Houston, Texas, primarily Operable Unit 1. This marks the first time 

a non-liable party has agreed to clean 

up a Superfund site as a condition of 

a PPA. Prospective purchasers normally wait until cleanup is complete 

before purchasing sites, but at the 

MDI site there were no former site 

owners available to perform or fund 

cleanup of the site’s lead-contaminated soils. 

CGI plans to redevelop the property 

for residential use. EPA estimates 

that it will save $6.6 million in 

cleanup costs as a result of the agreement. CGI will also pay EPA’s oversight costs. The agreement includes 

protections for both CGI and buyers 

Workers at the MDI site prior to 

recent agreement with CGI. 

of the future residential properties, including contribution protection and covenants not to sue. 

Beginning in 1926, Texas Electric 

Steel Casting Company (TESCO) operated a metal casting foundry at the 

site, adding a second foundry in 1970. 

The foundries continued to operate until 1992, when the owner filed for bankruptcy protection. EPA believes that 

airborne lead particles were deposited 

in high concentrations in both on- and 

off-site soils and then leached into area 

ground water. Since the site was added 

to the NPL in 1999, EPA has spent approximately $4.4 million cleaning up 

about 60 nearby residential properties 

contaminated from activities at the 

MDI site. 

CGI has assumed responsibility for 

Operable Unit 1, which includes soils 

and ground water within the site’s 

fenced boundaries. Removal of contaminated soils and implementation 

of the ground water remedy will prevent exposure to lead in children and 

adults at 149 residential properties. 

Under the terms of the agreement, CGI 

may not interfere with EPA’s activities 

at the site, which will include several 

years of ground water monitoring. 

For additional information, contact 

Barbara Nann, Region 6 ORC, (214) 

665-2157 or nann.barbara@epa.gov, 

or Tressa Tillman, Region 6 Press Office, (214) 665-2200 or 

tillman.tressa@epa.gov. 

In the Spotlight

EPA Announces FY2006 Enforcement 

Accomplishments

The Office of Enforcement and viewing their implementation at sites ing available authorities and resources 

Compliance Assurance where cleanup has been completed and to take advantage of new information 

(OECA) announced final by working to build state and EPA en- and monitoring technologies, support 

FY2006 enforcement accomplish- forcement capacity and knowledge of development of innovative IC instruments in a report released on Novem- ICs. As part of the latter effort, OECA ments, and apply lessons learned from 

ber 15, 2006. During the recently issued a policy memorandum in March its experience with ICs. 

ended fiscal year, EPA secured PRP 2006, confirming that “Enforcement During FY2006, $45 million of apcommitments for $391 million to- First” extends to PRP implementation propriated funds, state cost-share conward site cleanup, $47 million for and evaluation of ICs. EPA is also us- tributions, and potentially responsible 

oversight, and $164 million in cost 

can help by reporting potential 

environmental violations at 

(800) 424-8802. 

EPA’s mission is to protect our 

nation’s land, air and water. Citizens 

party settlement resources were oblirecovery. OECA also made improve- gated for 18 new construction projects 

ments in the tracking and manage- ranked by the National Risk-Based 

ment of site-specific special accounts Priority Panel at 16 NPL sites. The 

within the Hazardous Substance federal facilities cleanup enforcement 

Superfund. Special accounts hold program received commitments from 

funds obtained through settlements federal entities to address over 850 

with PRPs to clean up sites. million cubic yards of contaminated 

EPA continued to implement its media at their facilities, approxistrategy to ensure implementation of mately 65 percent of all cleanup cominstitutional controls (ICs) at mitments obtained in FY2006. 

Superfund sites by systematically recleanupnews 5
In The Courts

U.S. Seeks

Review of Eighth

Circuit Decision 

By Clarence E. Featherson, OSRE 

On October 24, 2006, the Solicitor 

General filed a petition for a writ of 

certiorari with the Supreme Court, 

seeking review of a ruling of the U.S. 

Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that CERCLA Section 107 allows 

a PRP to pursue an action for cost recovery or creates an implied right of 

contribution. Atlantic Research Corp. 

v. United States, 429 F.3d 827 (8th Cir. 

2006). 

Atlantic Research Corporation 

(ARC) voluntarily investigated and 

cleaned up contamination, and sought 

contribution from the United States. 

Because ARC did not perform its 

cleanup “during or following a civil 

action”, however, the Supreme Court’s 

decision in Cooper Industries, Inc. v. 

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

(2004) barred it from bringing a contribution claim under Section 

113(f)(1). ARC also was barred from 

bringing a contribution claim under 

Section 113(f)(3)(B) because it had not 

resolved its liability persuant to a 

state or federal administrative settlement. ARC therefore sought contribution under CERCLA Section 107. 

The Supreme Court is expected to 

grant the petition as recent decisions 

have created a split among the circuits on the Section 107 contribution 

issue. The U.S. Court of Appeals for 

the Second Circuit ruled in Consolidated Edison Co. of N.Y., Inc. v. UGI 

Util., Inc., 423 F.3d 90 (2nd Cir. 2005) 

that PRPs may seek cost recovery under Section 107 for CERCLA response 

actions taken pursuant to a state voluntary agreement. The U.S. Court of 

Appeals for the Third Circuit, however, has ruled that PRPs do not have 

an implied right of contribution under Section 107. (See next story.) 

For additional information, contact 

Clarence E. Featherson, (202) 564-

4234. 

cleanupnews 

DuPont Seeks 

Review of Third 

Circuit Section 

107 Ruling 

On November 21, 2006, E.I. DuPont 

de Nemours and Company filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court for 

a writ of certiorari to review a U.S. 

Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 

ruling that CERCLA Section 107 does 

not create an implied right of contribution for PRPs who voluntarily incur 

cleanup costs. The Third Circuit’s ruling creates a split among the appellate courts on the issue of PRPs recovering costs under CERCLA Section 107. 

The Solicitor General’s office filed a 

reply to DuPont’s petition on December 22, 2006. 

DuPont voluntarily undertook to 

clean up 15 facilities that had been 

used for wartime production. Both 

DuPont and the United States were 

responsible for contamination at the 

facilities. In 1997, DuPont sued the 

United States for contribution toward 

the cost of the cleanups. The district 

court granted the government’s motions 

for summary judgment on the ground 

that CERCLA Section 113 permits 

contribution claims only during or following a civil action against a PRP 

under CERCLA section 106 or 107. 

After the Supreme Court issued its 

ruling in Aviall Services, Inc. v. Cooper 

Industries, 543 U.S. 157 (2004), DuPont 

argued on appeal to the Third Circuit 

that it had an implied right of contribution under Section 107. 

The appellate court affirmed the district court’s ruling, citing Third Circuit 

precedent holding that cost recovery 

under Section 107 is available only to 

governments, Indian tribes, and innocent landowners, and that Section 113 

extinguishes any implied right of contribution under Section 107 or federal 

common law. 

For additional information, contact 

Tina Skaar, OSRE, (202) 564-0895. 

Salvage Company

Seeks Review of 

Sixth Circuit 

Liability Ruling 

A salvage company filed a petition 

for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme 

Court on November 7, 2006, seeking 

to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals for 

the Sixth Circuit ruling that liability 

under CERCLA Section 107(e)(1) is 

transferable by contract. 

The Coy/Superior Team (Coy) entered into a subcontract with BNFL, 

Inc. to dismantle and remove four synchronous condensers from a switchyard 

at East Tennessee Technology Park 

(ETTP) near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 

The subcontract provided that “(t)he 

Subcontractor(s) shall assume total 

regulatory responsibility, liability, and 

title to the wastes and recyclable material upon loading onto the 

Subcontractor’s vehicle at the ETTP 

site.” 

BNFL and Coy could not agree who 

was responsible for asbestos discovered in the condensers after Coy had 

loaded them onto its vehicles and 

moved them. Coy sought and the district court granted a declaratory judgment that BNFL was responsible. 

BNFL appealed, and Coy argued that 

not only did BNFL still have title to 

the wastes, but that CERCLA Section 

107(e)(1) barred transfer of liability 

for them. 

In The Coy/Superior Team v. BNFL, 

Inc., 174 FedAppx. 901 (6th Cir. April 

3, 2006), the appellate court reversed. 

The court ruled that the title issue was 

irrelevant and that Section 107(e)(1) 

allows parties to use indemnity agreements to shift CERCLA liability. “Although the section does not allow a 

party who is responsible for cleanup 

costs to escape liability vis-a-vis the 

federal government”, explained the 

court, “parties may still contractually 

allocate the costs of environmental 

cleanup among themselves.” 

6 
Mike Cook Retires 

After 33 Years at 

EPA 

Mike Cook, one of the pioneers of the 

Superfund program, retired at the end 

of last summer after 33 years at EPA. 

Mike was appointed in 1979 by former 

EPA Administrator Douglas Costle to 

head the office that would implement 

CERCLA. 

Mike joined EPA in 1973 after serving as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) 

in the counterinsurgency program in 

Vietnam and as consul in northeastern Thailand. Between those assignments, he volunteered for a State Department program that lent FSOs to 

HUD. 

Mike graduated with a B.A. in political science from Swarthmore College, attended Princeton University’s 

School of Public and International Affairs, and won a Rhodes Scholarship 

to Oxford University. In his first job 

at EPA, he managed planning and legislative policy for an Office of Water 

grants program to help local governments build sewage treatment plants. 

He went on to oversee the writing and 

implementation of RCRA regulations 

at OSW, direct the Office of Drinking 

Water, and manage issuance of discharge permits at the Office of Waste 

Water Management. Mike retired as 

Director of OSRTI, where he managed 

cleanups at Superfund sites and ERTs 

that responded to Hurricane Katrina 

and anthrax events on Capitol Hill. 

He was awarded EPA’s bronze, silver, 

and gold medals and the Distinguish 

Career Service Award, and was presented with the Distinguished Executive Award by President Reagan in 

1987. 

Mike says that “enforcement has 

changed dramatically” since 

Superfund’s early days. “EPA has 

worked out an approach that emphasizes getting the job done instead of 

having a huge legal battle” over every 

cleanup. Fund and enforcement staff 

now “work very well together on a caseby-case basis whereas they used to 

almost compete with each other.” 

As OSRTI director, Mike faced challenges associated with the increasing 

sophistication of subsurface and 

ground water remediation technologies. He says that one major challenge 

is simply disseminating information 

about these advances to the Superfund 

community and developing expertise 

in using them. Another is assessing 

possible adverse impacts of their use, 

an issue that has surfaced in regard 

to emerging nanotechnologies. 

Mike hopes to join a university faculty, but only part-time. “The problem is, they want me full-time,” he 

says, “and I have too many other interests.” 

Record Penalty

Imposed for UST

Violations 

On November 9, 2006, an administrative law judge (ALJ) imposed a 

$3.1 million penalty on a gas station 

operator for failing to comply with underground storage tank (UST) regulations. The penalty is the largest 

ever imposed by an ALJ for a federal 

environmental law violation. 

Euclid of Virginia operated 23 gas 

stations in Maryland, Virginia, and 

the District of Columbia. Inspections 

of these facilities were conducted by 

EPA Region 3 and state and D.C. officials. In 2002, EPA filed an administrative complaint alleging 70 violations of state and federal UST regulations. 

The ALJ, Carl C. Charneski, determined that Euclid had failed to comply with UST regulations in respect 

of 72 tanks at the 23 gas stations. 

These included regulations governing 

tank and line release detection; corrosion, overfill, and spill protection; 

and financial assurance. The size of 

the penalty reflects the number of facilities and USTs involved, the extended period of the violations, and 

what the ALJ referred to as Euclid’s 

“high degree of negligence” in failing to 

bring the facilities into compliance despite numerous warnings. Euclid has 

appealed the penalty to the Environmental Appeals Board. 

For additional information, contact 

David Sternberg, Region 3, 

sternberg.david@epa.gov. 

EPA Embarks on 

Last Phase of 9/11

Response 

On December 6, 2006, EPA Region 2 

announced a $7 million program to test 

indoor spaces in lower Manhattan, the 

final phase of its response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. 

The Test and Clean Program will offer 

residents and owners of commercial 

and residential buildings the opportunity to have indoor air and dust tested 

for four contaminants present in dust 

spread by the collapse of the World 

Trade Center. 

EPA will establish a hotline where 

residents and owners may register for 

the program, which covers the area 

south of Canal Street and west of Allen 

and Pike Streets. Region 2 has selected 

a contractor to operate the hotline and 

expects it to be in operation by midJanuary. If any of the four contaminants of concern – asbestos, vitreous 

fibers such as fiberglass, lead, and 

PAHs – are detected at elevated levels, EPA will clean them up. Testing is 

scheduled to begin in the spring. 

Earlier phases of the response included outdoor monitoring and a residential dust cleanup program. EPA 

and other agencies took samples of air, 

dust, water, river sediments, and 

drinking water from the World Trade 

Center site and nearby areas, and 

evaluated the results according to public health standards and guidelines. A 

residential dust cleanup program that 

enabled residents to have their homes 

professionally cleaned and tested 

wound up in the summer of 2003. 

For additional information, contact 

Mary Mears, Region 2, (212) 637-3675. 

cleanupnews 7 

Tidbits
Calendar January 22 - 25, 2007 

Fourth International Conference on 

Remediation of Contaminated Sediments 

Savannah, Georgia 

February 26 - March 3, 2007 

SWANA’s Recycling and Special Waste 

Conference 

Tampa, Florida 

March 13 - 14, 2007 

AWMA Hazardous Waste Combustors 

Conference and Exhibition 

Charleston, South Carolina 

April 4 - 5, 2007 

2007 Conference on Design and 

Construction Issues at Hazardous 

Waste Sites 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

April 4 - 6, 2007 

Long-Term Stewardship Roundtable &


Training


San Diego, California


April 11 - 13, 2007 

Globalizing Clinical Education to Protect 

the World’s Health and Environment 

University of Maryland School of Law 

Baltimore, Maryland 

April 18 - 19, 2007 

36th Annual Solid/Hazardous Waste 

Conference and Exhibition 

Gatlinburg, Tennessee 

May 9 - 10, 2007 

International Exhibition & Conference for 

Energy from Waste and Biomass 

Messe Bremen, Germany 

May 21 - 24, 2007 

2007 Joint Services Environmental 

Management Conference 

Columbus, Ohio 

June 19 - 22, 2007 

EPA Community Involvement 

Conference and Training 

Jacksonville, Florida 

October 1 - 5, 2007 

Eleventh International Waste 

Management and Landfill Symposium 

Cagliari, Sardinia 

October 7 - 10, 2007 

2007 ICMA Annual Conference 

Pittsburgh/Allegheny County, 

Pennsylvania 

October 10 - 13, 2007 

ALTA 2007 Annual Convention 

Chicago, Illinois 

Glossary 

AOC Administrative order on consent OSW Office of Solid Waste 

CERCLA Comprehensive Environmental OSWER Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 

Response, Compensation, and Response 

Liability Act 

PAH Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon 

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 

PRP Potentially responsible party 

HUD Department of Housing and Urban 

Development RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery 

Act 

NPL National Priorities List 

RI/FS Remedial investigation/feasibility study 

OECA Office of Enforcement and 

Compliance Assurance ROD Record of decision 

OECA Office of Enforcement and 

Compliance Assurance 

RPM Remedial project manager 

ORC Office of Regional Counsel UST Underground storage tank 

OSRTI Office of Superfund Remediation and VOC Volatile organic compound 

Technology Innovation 

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

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 

be found at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/ 

resources/newsletters/cleanup 

cleanupnews.html 

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. 

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 

Cheryl Hasty, Amethyst Matthews, Don Allen 

DPRA Incorporated, writers 

Mary Spencer 

DPRA Incorporated, designer