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Tulalip Landfill Settlement of $15 Million

Release Date: 9/8/1997
Contact Information: Bob Jacobson
[email protected]
(206) 553-1203

September 8, 1997 - - - - - - 97-55


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

More than $15 million in cash will be paid to help clean up the Tulalip landfill by terms of settlements being lodged today in federal court in Seattle to resolve U.S. government claims against 14 parties who contributed to the contamination at the landfill. The site is on the Tulalip Indian reservation near Everett, Washington, at the mouth of the Snohomish River where the river meets Puget Sound.

The funds from the new agreements, when combined with earlier settlements, bring to more than $ 25 million the total value of money and services raised for cleaning up the landfill. Listed below are the parties in the settlements announced today, and the cash amount each party will pay.

Seattle Disposal Company....................$9,500,000
The Tulalip Tribe...........................$1,000,000
Monsanto Corporation........................ $ 891,882
The U.S. Navy................................$ 750,000
Bureau of Indian Affairs.................... $ 500,000
Quemetco.................................... $ 494,824
University of Washington.................... $ 423,138
Seattle Public Schools.......................$ 348,704
Sears Roebuck and Company....................$ 334,654
Lockheed.....................................$ 294,564
City of Mercer Island........................$ 234,011
Port of Seattle..............................$ 223,680
R. W. Rhine..................................$ 150,000

In addition to the cash settlements, Waste Management Inc. agreed to play a major role in the Tulalip landfill cleanup, using its own funds and money from other settling parties. By terms of its settlement, Waste Management will spend at least $2.1 million of its own funds for the design and management of the cleanup. Waste Management also agreed to pay for any cost overruns on the cleanup beyond the $16.7 million currently budgeted for the job.

The settlements lodged with the court today are contained in consent decrees that are subject to public comment before a federal judge will consider them for entry with the court as legally enforceable documents. An official notice, expected to be published in the Federal Register within the next week or so, will mark the start of a 30-day public comment period.

Copies of the consent decrees are available now from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Northwest regional headquarters in Seattle.

Mike Gearheard, chief of the Superfund cleanup office at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Northwest regional headquarters in Seattle, explained why the amounts of the settlements vary from party to party.

"The amounts differ because the settlements are intended to correspond with each party's level of responsibility for the contamination at the landfill," Gearheard said. "Also, the settlements reflect credit given to some parties for past costs they have already paid."

By far, the largest cash settlement will be paid by Seattle Disposal Company, the operator of the Tulalip landfill from 1964 to 1979. During those 15 years, an estimated four million tons of commercial, medical and industrial wastes were barged to the landfill by the Marine Disposal Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seattle Disposal.

The next largest settlement was signed by Waste Management Inc., whose contributions to the problems at Tulalip were made by garbage hauling companies that were eventually purchased by Washington Waste Hauling and Recycling Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waste Management. These companies trucked substantial quantities of wastes from the Seattle area to the Marine Disposal barges on the Seattle waterfront.

By terms of its consent decree, Waste Management will design and build a cover for the entire 147-acre landfill. The purpose of the cover is to keep rain and snow from percolating into the soil where it filters through the buried wastes to form contaminated liquid. This liquid, once it leaks into the environment, can affect fish and wildlife habitat and threaten water quality in Puget Sound.

In building the cover at the landfill, Waste Management will first bring the surface up to grade before laying down a one-foot layer of sand. The sand will be capped by a liner that will provide proper drainage. A foot of topsoil will be placed on top of that, and the entire area will be seeded with grass.

Also, Waste Management will install a passive gas collection system.

Operation and maintenance of the cover system will continue for 30 years, with major funding coming from Seattle Disposal ($3.4 million) and the Tulalip Tribe ($1 million).

More than 200 parties whose wastes were hauled to the Tulalip landfill have now reached settlement with EPA. Most of the settlements have been with parties who contributed relatively small amounts of wastes to the landfill.

• Last year, EPA entered into an administrative agreement with 187 parties who each contributed less than 0.6 percent of the total documented volume of wastes at the landfill. The cash value of this agreement was $8.1 million.
• This year, EPA entered into a second administrative agreement, this time with eight parties who each contributed between 0.6 percent and 1.0 percent of the documented wastes. This agreement, which is currently undergoing public comment, has a cash value of $1.6 million.

The combined total of all cash settlements reached so far is more than $25 million, and the figure will climb once additional parties pay their share of the cleanup.

Except for Todd Shipyards and Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), all the remaining parties are small contributors each responsible for less than 0.6 percent of the total documented wastes.

In the case of Todd Shipyards, the company has contended that EPA does not have a valid claim against it because of Todd's bankruptcy claim filed in 1987. EPA disagrees, and continues to pursue settlement with Todd.

BFI, a transporter of wastes that were barged to Tulalip, chose not to engage in settlement negotiations, but instead agreed to accept the decision of an allocator who would determine how much BFI should pay. The decision of the allocator is expected soon.

In addition to paying for the actual landfill cleanup, money collected from all the settling parties will cover costs for assessments and studies already performed with public funds, for future EPA oversight of the cleanup, and for operation and maintenance for 30 years.

CONTACTS
Loren McPhillips
[email protected]
(206) 553-4903

Dean Ingemansen
[email protected]
(206) 553-1744