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U.S. EPA Proposes $17 Million Settlement with 275 Parties to Clean up Former Los Angeles Area Hazardous Waste Landfill

Release Date: 01/10/2011
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, (213) 244-1815, Cell (213) 798-1404, [email protected]

(01/10/11) SAN FRANCISCO – The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest Region is proposing to enter into settlements with 275 small parties, called de minimis parties, for the Operating Industries, Inc. (OII), Superfund Site. The OII Site is a 190-acre facility located in Monterey Park, Calif., about 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

The OII Site was operated as a landfill accepting commercial, residential, and industrial waste from 1948 to 1984. Each of the de minimis parties sent between 4,200 and 110,000 gallons of liquid hazardous waste to the OII Site during its decades of operation. Collectively, these parties will pay more than $17 million toward cleanup costs at the site.

“Today, landfills that accept hazardous waste must meet very strict design requirements. This was not the case with OII where hazardous materials were released into the environment,” said Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator for EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. “Including this settlement, 1,100 companies responsible for the contamination have contributed more than $600 million to the cleanup of the OII Superfund site.”

Over the course of its operation, the landfill accepted industrial solid, liquid and hazardous wastes, as well as municipal solid waste. The EPA identified the OII Site as an environmental problem in the early 1980’s and placed it on the National Priorities List in 1986.

Notice of the proposed Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order on Consent was placed into the Federal Register for a thirty day public comment period beginning January 7, 2011.

For more information, please visit: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/2011-147.htm