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RSR SETTLEMENT REACHED

Release Date: 5/29/1998
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

A legal agreement resolving claims against seven companies in connection with the RSR Corp. Superfund site was lodged in U.S. District Court in Dallas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will demolish the former lead smelter and 300-foot stack located at the corner of Westmoreland Road and Singleton Boulevard in West Dallas. EPA estimates cleanup costs will be about $11.5 million.

"I'm excited this agreement has been reached. This site was the major source of neighborhood lead contamination. I'm sure the residents are as pleased as I am that the long- overdue cleanup of this property can now be completed," EPA Regional Administrator Gregg A. Cooke said.

The agreement includes a $50,000 grant to be used by residents near the former smelter. The grant will help residents obtain technical assistance to prepare and to implement a Community Air Monitoring Plan during the cleanup. The Community Air Monitoring Plan provides for temporary relocation of affected residents if EPA's health-based standards are exceeded in the residential air monitoring locations.

In addition to the legal agreement, the companies will implement a worker training pilot project as a benefit to the community. The companies will provide $72,000 to help train selected residents from West Dallas. They also will prepare and implement a plan for assuring that the companies and their contractors provide West Dallas residents the opportunity to apply for and be considered for contracts and employment on this project.

The seven companies participating in the settlement are Commercial Metals Company, Duggan Industries Inc., General Motors Corp., GNB Technologies Inc., Interstate Battery System of America Inc., Johnson Controls Battery Group Inc., and M. Lipsitz & Co. Inc.

The RSR Corp. Superfund site is approximately 13.6 square miles in the western part of Dallas. Contamination at the site originated from a secondary lead smelter that operated from the early 1930s to1984.

Lead, arsenic and cadmium are the primary contaminants. These contaminants were dispersed from the smelter property by air emissions from the smelter stack and by the use of lead slag and battery casing chips as fill material in yards and driveways. In addition, smelter operators purportedly disposed of smelter wastes, including lead slag and battery casings, at municipal landfills operated by the City of Dallas and at an undeveloped property near the smelter.

In the early 1990s, EPA conducted an extensive emergency cleanup in residential areas surrounding the smelter. Contaminated soils and fill material were removed from the yards of hundreds of homes. Under EPA supervision, the Dallas Housing Authority also conducted an emergency cleanup of the public housing area it operates across Singleton Boulevard from the former smelter.