News Releases from Region 03
U.S. EPA Settles with Parties on Cleanup Plan For 68th Street Superfund Site in Rosedale, Maryland
PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 13, 2017) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement today with more than 40 parties to clean up hazardous waste contamination at the 68th Street Dump/Industrial Enterprises Superfund Site in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Under terms of the proposed consent decree filed in federal court in Baltimore, the parties are responsible to finance and perform a $51.5 million EPA-approved cleanup, perform additional natural resources restoration work, and pay the state and federal natural resource trustees $490,000 for past and future costs related to natural resource damages. Defendants are also required to pay $630,000 for an off-site restoration project.
The 12 parties that are responsible for performing the cleanup include: AAI Corporation; Acme Markets Inc.; AK Steel Corporation; Browning-Ferris, Inc.; Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc.; Brunswick Corporation; ConAgra Grocery Products Company, LLC; Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc.; CSX Realty Development, LLC; CSX Transportation, Inc.; Exxon Mobil Corporation and Illinois Tool Works Inc.
Along with these 12 parties, the other remaining parties contributed about $18.8 million towards the settlement.
The 68th Street Site encompasses several landfills spread over a 239-acre area in Rosedale, Maryland. From the 1950s through the 1970s, these landfills accepted industrial and commercial wastes containing hazardous wastes, which contaminated soil, sediment, groundwater, surface water and wetland areas.
EPA and Maryland have been involved in cleanup activities at the site for several years. In the 1980s, the Maryland Department of the Environment conducted several emergency cleanup actions that included removing more than 50 of the 55-gallon drums of assorted waste. In 2008, under an EPA consent order, several parties removed contaminated surface soils, containers, gas cylinders, empty drums and batteries from the site. On Sept. 30, 2013, the EPA selected the final cleanup plan, which will be financed and completed pursuant to this settlement.
The cleanup plan includes, among other requirements:
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Installing a soil cap over contaminated soil and landfill areas;
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Excavating and removing contaminated soil hotspots and pond sediment;
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Removing and recycling surface debris;
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Collecting and treating leachate and contaminated ground water from the landfills through enhanced wetlands, a biowall, and treatment at a local wastewater treatment facility; and
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Restoring stream banks and revegetating the capped landfills with trees, shrubs and other native vegetation.
The agreement announced today was reached under the federal Superfund law -- formally known as the Comprehensive Environmental Responsibility, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) -- which requires landowners, waste generators and waste transporters responsible for contaminating a Superfund site to clean up the site, or reimburse the government or other parties for cleanup activities. See https://www.epa.gov/superfund .
The proposed consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. For more information about this site and its cleanup, see http://www.epa.gov/superfund/68thstreet