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US EPA announces agreement for $44.1 million cleanup of San Gabriel Valley Superfund Site

Release Date: 3/8/2004
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, U.S. EPA, (213) 452-3378

     Action begins public comment period

           LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice today announced that 38 parties have agreed to a settlement for a $44.1 million cleanup of the groundwater contamination in the El Monte Operable Unit of the San Gabriel Valley Superfund Sites.  

     The consent decree was lodged March 5, 2004 with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

      In addition to the cleanup, the consent decree requires the settling parties to reimburse the EPA approximately $1.9 million for its past response costs and to pay all future oversight costs.

     The San Gabriel Valley Sites, Areas 1-4 became Superfund sites in 1984.  The El Monte unit is an area of 10 square miles of groundwater contaminated with volatile organic compounds in both the deep and shallow aquifers.  Businesses owned and or operated by the settling parties had used VOCs for degreasing, metal cleaning and other purposes.

     The cleanup calls for pumping approximately 2.4 million gallons per day of contaminated groundwater and treating the groundwater for VOCs and other chemicals, as necessary.  The remedy will control the movement of VOC-contaminated groundwater and protect downstream water supply wells.

     "The hard work of all the parties on this settlement has really paid off," said Keith Takata, director of the U.S. EPA's Superfund Division for the Southwest Region.  "Now we have the funds committed to complete the cleanup at the El Monte OU and protect human health and the environment."

     "This settlement represents our continuing efforts to ensure that those responsible for contamination pay for the costs of the cleanup," said Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resource Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.  "Through this important settlement, the El Monte OU will be cleaned up and the public protected from the risks of exposure to these hazardous substances."