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U.S. EPA ANNOUNCES OII SUPERFUND SITE FINAL CLEANUP DECISION

Release Date: 10/1/1996
Contact Information: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1588

    (San Francisco)--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) today announced a cleanup remedy for the Operating Industries Inc. (OII) Superfund site in Monterey Park, Calif. This  is the last in a series of cleanup remedies that U.S. EPA has selected for the site.

      "This major milestone completes selection of the final remedy for the Operating Industries site," said Keith Takata, U.S. EPA's regional Superfund director. "This comes after a lengthy and complicated evaluation of the contamination and best possible cleanup options."

     U.S. EPA's remedy addresses liquids control and contaminated groundwater as well as the long-term operation and maintenance of environmental control facilities at the landfill. Liquids will be controlled at the landfill perimeter to prevent migration of contaminants to groundwater. Contaminated groundwater that now exists beyond the landfill perimeter will be allowed to naturally attenuate over time. In earlier cleanup actions, U.S. EPA decided on a landfill gas migration control system, landfill cover, and surface water management system for the site.

     The OII landfill is a 190-acre Superfund site that operated from 1948 to 1984 and accepted industrial and municipal wastes. The landfill contains a wide variety of hazardous substances and is one of the most contaminated sites in the nation.

     OII was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) in May 1986. The NPL is U.S. EPA's list of hazardous waste sites potentially posing the greatest long-term threat to public health and the environment.


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