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MRC Holdings, Inc. agrees to Cleanup Groundwater at the MRI Superfund Site in Tampa, Florida

Release Date: 08/03/2009
Contact Information: Laura Niles, (404) 562-8353, niles.laura@epa.gov

(Atlanta, Ga. – August 3, 2009) The Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a complaint and lodged a Consent Decree on July 30, 2009 resolving claims for implementation of work plus recovery of EPA response costs at the MRI Superfund Site (the Site) located in Tampa, Fla.

“Today’s settlement will result in a nearly full recovery of costs incurred to clean up the MRI Superfund Site,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This is a good settlement that will result in a cleaner environment for the citizens of Tampa.”

"This settlement means that the responsible party will pay to clean up the MRI Superfund site," said Stan Meiburg, EPA Acting Regional Administrator in Atlanta. "This protects both the environment and the taxpayer."

The Site cleanup is comprised of two remedies, a soil remedy and a groundwater remedy. Under the current lodged Consent Decree, MRC Holdings, Inc. has agreed to perform EPA’s groundwater remedy, estimated at $6,700,000, and reimburse in full EPA’s interim and future costs of overseeing implementation of this remedy. The Middle District of Florida previously entered the Consent Decree for soil remediation on February 19, 2002, in which MRC Holdings, Inc. agreed to perform the soil cleanup estimated at $2,130,111, and pay past costs at the Site in the amount of $700,000. The two settlements represent close to complete recovery for cleanup at this Site.

The twelve acre MRI Site is located in an industrial area on the southeast side of Tampa at 9220 Stannum Street, near the intersection of US Route 301 and Stannum Street, about a half a mile north of Florida State Road 60. It was placed on the Superfund National Priorities List on December 23, 1996. The Site is the location of a former detinning/steel recycling facility, where tin cans and similar scrap metal were treated with caustic chemicals to remove the tin coating. The contaminants of concern on-site are metals, primarily lead.