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PIPELINE OPERATOR COMPLETES REQUIRED PCB CLEANUP WORK
Release Date: 03/29/2002
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2002
PIPELINE OPERATOR COMPLETES REQUIRED PCB CLEANUP WORK
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov
Texas Eastern Transmission, LP has completed all requirements of a 1989 federal consent decree regarding polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination at numerous sites along the firm’s 9,000 mile natural gas distribution pipeline in 14 states. Texas Eastern has abided by the provisions of the consent decree, cleaning up PCBs at its stations under the agreement with EPA. The Agency is urging other companies to follow the Texas Eastern lead in taking responsibility for their actions and working cooperatively with the federal government to clean up past environmental harm. The decade-plus effort cost an estimated $500 million to assess 462 sites for contamination, install 707 groundwater monitoring wells, and remove and dispose approximately 600,000 tons of contaminated soil. Also under the consent decree, Texas Eastern agreed to pay a $15 million civil penalty and oversight costs between $14-$18 million and contribute $1.1 million to the Superfund Trust Fund. Classified as a possible human carcinogen, PCB production was banned in the United States in 1977. Texas Eastern used PCBs in its compressors as a fire retardant. Over time, the PCBs and other hazardous materials leaked into the pipeline system and contaminated the existing pipeline condensate/liquid. The 1989 consent decree required soil cleanup at 57 compressor stations and 139 facility locations along the pipeline, and groundwater sampling at 76 sites. Soil cleanup was completed in 1998 and groundwater sampling in 2001.
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