Lee Calls for EPA Enforcement of Polluter Pays Provision Enforcement Might Have Prevented Superfund Site in Oakland
(Washington, DC) – On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the legislation that created the federal Superfund, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), calling on the agency to enforce provisions of the law that would ensure that polluters pay for the cost of environmental cleanup resulting from their operations.
“Twenty five years ago, Congress passed legislation to ensure that polluters would pay for environmental cleanup, and it is long overdue for the EPA to start enforcing that law and make sure that taxpayers stop getting stuck with the bill,” said Lee.
Lee’s letter, which was signed by Representatives Case (D-HI), Farr (D-CA), Carson (D-IN), Hinchey (D-NY), McDermott (D-WA), McCollum (D-MN), Payne (D-NJ), Grijalva (D-AZ), Kucinich (D-OH) and DeLauro (D-CT), calls on EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to implement provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 11th, 1980, that require businesses that handle hazardous materials to maintain financial assurances, proving their ability to pay for the clean up of any environmental contamination that results from their operations.
According to a report issued in August by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), “[b]y its inaction on this mandate, EPA has continued to expose the Superfund program, and ultimately the U.S. taxpayers, to potentially enormous cleanup costs at facilities that currently are not required to have financial assurances for cleanup costs.”
“If this statute had been enforced, it is quite possible that we would not have a Superfund site in West Oakland,” said Lee. “EPA action on existing law would not only ensure that polluters pay for cleanup, but provide incentives for business to be more environmentally friendly and avoid pollution in the first place.”
Lee was referring to the AMCO site, at 1401 Third St. in Oakland, which was officially added to the National Priorities list of the nation's most contaminated sites on September 29, 2003. From the 1960s to 1989, the AMCO Chemical Company operated a chemical distribution facility at the site whose operations left behind significant environmental contamination. According to the Federal Register, after a construction crew noted strange odors during excavation near the site in 1995, a “subsurface investigation by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), DC Metals, and EPA revealed the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including vinyl chloride in soil, soil gas, and shallow ground water” at the site.
According to the EPA, there are 21 sites Oakland that are listed for consideration for Superfund cleanup.
Had the EPA carried out its statutory authority to implement financial assurance requirements for businesses that handle or produce hazardous materials, companies like AMCO would have been forced to take out financial guarantees (insurance, bonds, etc) based on the potential for their releasing pollution in the local environment. In the event that they went out of businesses, the guarantee would remain available to pay for the cost of cleanup, relieving taxpayers of the burden and potentially speeding the process.
Currently, many businesses are able to avoid the cost of environmental cleanup by declaring bankruptcy. Because the EPA has no system to track the businesses that have outstanding environmental cleanup obligations, they are severely limited in their capacity to pursue the businesses during the bankruptcy process, and taxpayers have had to foot the bill as the result.
Enforcement of the financial assurance statute would require businesses to obtain insurance and report to EPA, allowing the agency to track potential polluters and preventing the use of bankruptcy to avoid cleanup costs. Financial assurance measures would also provide an incentive for businesses to implement environmentally friendly practices in order to reduce their liability.
Lee’s call comes at a time when chronic funding shortfalls are impeding Superfund cleanup progress. There are currently over 1,300 sites listed, or proposed for listing, on the National Priorities List of the nation’s most contaminated sites under the Superfund program. Recent studies estimate that on average it will cost $140 million to clean up each of the 142 largest Superfund sites, for a total of almost $20 billion.
According to a study released by Resources for the Future in 2001, adjusting for projected inflation, the Superfund program was estimated to need $1,690.8 million for fiscal year 2006. This year Congress appropriated only $1.2 billion for the Superfund for fiscal year 2006.
Click here for a copy of the letter
Here’s the information from the EPA on the AMCO site in Oakland from the Federal Register. It was officially added to the list on April 29th, 2003.
Conditions at Proposal (April 30, 2003): The AMCO Chemical site (AMCO) is part of a 0.83-acre property at 1414 Third Street in a mixed residential and light industrial area of Oakland, California. The property is bordered on the north by a vacant lot, on the west by residences, on the east by Nelson Mandela Parkway, and on the south by Third Street. A recently constructed elevated portion of the Interstate-880 (I-880) freeway is located immediately across Third Street from the property. The property (at 1401 Third Street) was historically occupied by Bobo's Junkyard.
From the 1960s to 1989, the AMCO site was occupied by AMCO Chemical Company. AMCO operated a chemical distribution facility that included a warehouse, railroad spur, above-ground tanks, underground tanks, and drums used to transfer and store raw materials. In July 1988, the Oakland Fire Department observed "leaking/rotting drums" on the property. A subsequent emergency response investigation by Alameda County and the U.S. Coast Guard revealed greater than 100 full and empty 5- and 55-gallon weathered drums in an open area behind AMCO Chemical's main building. Stenciled labels on the drums indicated that the contents included acetone; 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA); methyl ethyl ketone; and dry-cleaning solvent. From 1989 to November 1998, DC Metals operated a scrap metal yard on the site. Cable Moore, Inc., currently uses the site for cable storage. Structures remaining on site include an office building, warehouse, and two small storage buildings.
In June 1995, a construction crew noted odors at the intersection of Third Street and Nelson Mandela Parkway, while excavating a trench needed to relocate an underground electrical line in preparation for a freeway project. Subsequent subsurface investigation by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), DC Metals, and EPA revealed the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including vinyl chloride in soil, soil gas, and shallow ground water at the AMCO site, beneath Third Street, and at the 1401 Third Street property (former Bobo's Junkyard).
On December 5, 1996, the EPA Emergency Response Office initiated a removal action at the AMCO site that involved the construction of a ground water and soil vapor extraction (SVE) treatment system. The EPA treatment system collection trench was excavated from December 5 through December 20, 1996. By December 23, 1996, the trench had been lined with a silt curtain, filled with gravel, and covered with a tarp. Cement was poured to permanently cover the trench on January 8, 1997. The treatment system operated from January 1997 through July 1998 and extracted approximately 7,000 pounds of VOCs, approximately 40 pounds of which were vinyl ch