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U.S. EPA HOLDS MEETINGS WITH ARIZONA COMMUNITY

Release Date: 9/13/1996
Contact Information: Paula Bruin, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1587

   (San Francisco)--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(U.S. EPA) today announced it will hold an open house and public
meeting with community members of Mobile, Ariz., to provide
information and to discuss their concerns about the United
Heckathorn Superfund cleanup which involves the shipment and
disposal of DDT-contaminated sediment at a Mobile facility.

     The open house will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and the
public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 18, 1996, at the
Maricopa School, 45012 W. Honeycutt Ave., Maricopa, Ariz.
Representatives from U.S. EPA and the state of Arizona will be
available to discuss the project and hear the concerns of the
community.

     U.S. EPA in 1994 selected the cleanup plan for the United
Heckathorn Superfund site which calls for dredging the San
Francisco Bay to remove the DDT-contaminated sediment.  The
contaminated sediment poses a threat to the marine environment
and to the Richmond residents who eat the fish.

      As part of the Superfund program, the Agency believes
community involvement is important to the cleanup decision-making
process.  The Agency has worked with several environmental groups
at the Richmond site.  U.S. EPA also plans to explore the issue
of community involvement at the destination of Superfund waste.  

    U.S. EPA asked the responsible parties who are conducting
the cleanup to voluntarily delay the project until the open house
could be held.  The parties conducting the work refused to delay
the work.
   
    The responsible parties are conducting the cleanup under
four settlements with U.S. EPA recently reached in the U.S.
District Court in San Francisco and are in compliance with state
and federal laws. Fifteen businesses, including Shell Oil Co.and
Montrose Chemical Corp., have agreed to pay for and conduct the
$9 million cleanup plan and to reimburse U.S. EPA approximately
$1 million for past costs.