EPA recovers costs for cleanup work done at Fletcher's Paint Superfund Site, Milford, N.H.
Boston - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a cost recovery settlement with the General Electric Company (GE) for the cleanup of the Fletcher’s Paint Works and Storage Facility Superfund Site in Milford, N.H.
GE was found liable for the cleanup and disposal of the PCB contamination at the Fletcher's Paint Superfund Site. As the Responsible Party, GE has agreed to pay $3.214 million to resolve all the outstanding site costs that the federal government incurred through the cleanup process.
EPA and its partners at the Department of Justice (DOJ) covered the up-front costs of some of the cleanup work done at the site as well as the costs to have EPA officials oversee the cleanup work that GE conducted to make sure it was done in accordance with the Superfund law. EPA and DOJ also incurred legal costs throughout the process.
Under the Trump Administration, the Superfund Program has reemerged as a priority to fulfill and strengthen EPA's core mission of protecting human health and the environment. Today’s Superfund cost recovery announcement highlights EPA's commitment to clean up sites expeditiously while holding responsible parties accountable for cleanup costs.
This cost recovery settlement has been published in the Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/02/11/2019-01904/proposed-cercla-administrative-cost-recovery-settlement-fletchers-paint-works-site-milford-new and is open for public comment until March 13, 2019.
For more information on the Fletcher's Paint site, go to www.epa.gov/superfund/fletcher.
Background
The Fletcher's Paint Works and Storage Facility Superfund Site is located in Milford, New Hampshire. Fletcher's Paint manufactured and sold paints and stains from 1949 until 1991. The former two-acre Fletcher's Paint operation consisted of two areas: a manufacturing plant/retail outlet on Elm Street; and a storage area 700 feet south on Mill Street. Many years of storage and releases of scrap pyranol, which is a mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and solvents, contaminated soil, groundwater, and nearby sediments in the Souhegan River.
After actions in the 1980's to initially reduce exposure to contamination, there were a number of actions taken once the Site was listed as a Superfund Site. Excavation activities at the Elm and Mill Street portions of the Site were performed between October 2015 and November 2016. The remedial activities at the Elm Street area resulted in the excavation and off-site disposal of about 22,210 cubic yards of contaminated soil. The remedial activities at the Mill Street area resulted in the excavation and off-site disposal of approximately 9,945 cubic yards of contaminated soil. Backfilling of the excavated areas was performed throughout the 2016 and 2017 construction seasons. Site restoration activities, including the final cover on the Elm and Mill Street areas were completed by July 2017.
