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Multi-Party Settlement Will Fund Continued Cleanup at Berks County Superfund Site - 22 Parties to Reimburse U.S. for $13.85 Million and Complete $14-to-$18 Million Cleanup of the Douglassville Disposal Site

Release Date: 4/4/2001
Contact Information: Ruth Wuenschel, (215) 814-5540

Ruth Wuenschel, (215) 814-5540

PHILADELPHIA – U.S. District Judge Robert F. Kelly has approved the government’s settlement with 22 parties involved in a lawsuit over the cleanup of the Douglassville Disposal Superfund Site in Berks County, Pa.

The settling parties have agreed to complete an EPA-approved cleanup plan, costing an estimated $14 to $18 million, reimburse EPA $13.85 million for past activities at the 50-acre Superfund site, and set aside $1.1 million for future operation and maintenance costs. The consent decree, filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, resolves the government’s cleanup claims against 14 private companies and eight federal agencies.

EPA Acting Regional Administrator Thomas Voltaggio hailed the settlement, which largely concludes the Superfund case filed in 1991. “This settlement avoids the cost and delay of further litigation, and allows EPA and the settling companies to concentrate on finishing the cleanup at Douglassville,” said Voltaggio.

The Douglassville Disposal Superfund Site, located approximately 11 miles southeast of Reading, is a former waste oil recycling facility operated by Berks Associates, Inc. from 1941 until 1985. Berks disposed of several million gallons of waste oil sludge in lagoons and waste pits on the property. Contaminants at the site include volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”) and lead. Periodic flooding of the adjoining Schuylkill River resulted in wastes from the on-site sludge lagoons entering the river.

Under the Superfund law, the landowners, waste generators and waste transporters responsible for creating a hazardous waste site are responsible for cleaning up the site, or reimbursing the government or other parties for cleanup activities.

The site was placed on the Superfund list of the nation’s most hazardous waste sites in 1983. In 1990, EPA completed the decontamination and dismantling of the site’s waste oil processing facility, and removed liquids and sludge from on-site tanks and trucks. In 1989, the agency issued a decision which called for the excavation and on-site incineration of certain wastes. Technological advances in soil stabilization remedies, at a substantial cost savings, prompted the agency to reconsider the incineration plan. EPA approved an alternative remedial plan in 1999, including an innovative lime-based stabilization process, which converts oily waste into solid, soil-like material. The stabilized material will be landfilled and covered at the site.

EPA estimates that the parties involved in the settlement announced today are responsible for sending approximately 21 million gallons of waste oil for treatment or storage at this site. The settling parties include the site owners (H. Lester Schurr and Berks Associates, Inc.) 12 parties that allegedly generated the waste oil and other hazardous substances at the site (Cabot Corporation, Consolidated Rail Corporation, CSXT, The Glidden Company, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Penn Central Transportation, Scott Paper, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, USX, Chevron Environmental Management Company, Shell Oil, A & A Waste Oil) and eight federal agencies (Department of Defense, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Mint, U.S. Postal Service, and the U.S. Printing Office.)

This is the government’s third settlement with parties involved in the Douglassville Superfund litigation. In July 1999, the court approved a $9 million settlement with 144 parties that contributed minimal amounts of hazardous substances to the site. In February 1994, the bankruptcy court also approved a $450,000 settlement with Farley Industries.

The government is continuing to negotiate with several parties that allegedly contributed small amounts of hazardous waste to this site.