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OPERATING INDUSTRIES SUPERFUND SITE UPDATE

Release Date: 5/13/1998
Contact Information: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA, (415)744-1588

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS

 EPA Notifies About 950 Parties of Liability for Portion of Cleanup Costs

     The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it has notified  about 950 parties that they are potentially responsible for generating a comparatively small amount of waste disposed of at the Operating Industries, Inc. (OII) Landfill Superfund site in Monterey Park, Calif. These parties contributed between 4,200 and 110,000 gallons of waste to the site. Subsequent letters will offer them the opportunity to join a settlement resolving their liability for OII cleanup costs. The total estimated cost for cleaning up the OII site is expected to exceed $600 million, including past costs and future EPA response and oversight costs. To date, parties that contributed the most waste to the site have spent or committed over $280 million toward the cleanup. When completed, the OII cleanup, which began in 1984, will protect human health and the environment from the release and migration of contaminants from the landfill. A leachate treatment system and landfill gas collection system have been constructed, and a landfill cover is under construction. Additional systems will treat landfill gas and address groundwater contamination.  EPA has entered into six prior consent decrees and has issued two unilateral orders for the site. EPA has offered to forgive $15 million in past costs to companies that agree to perform the cleanup. More information about this action can be obtained at U.S. EPA's web site at: https://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/sfund/npl/oii/demin.htm.
Information about the OII site can be obtained at: https://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/sfund/npl/oii/index.htm.


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