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Settlement Collects Cleanup Costs for Birch Swamp Road Superfund Site in Warren, R.I.

Release Date: 11/07/2013
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Nov. 7, 2013) – EPA has reached a settlement with the Estate of Amilio Zompa and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the Department of Defense, for reimbursement of EPA’s past costs for the cleanup of contamination at the Birch Swamp Road Superfund Site, in Warren, R.I. The settlement, lodged in U.S. District Court, requires the Estate to pay the United States $92,000 and 82 percent of the net proceeds from the sale of two properties owned by the Estate. The settlement also requires the United States, on behalf of DLA, to pay $475,000.

From the late-1960s to the early-1990s, Amilio Zompa used the one-acre Site for the operation of an unlicensed junk yard. During that time, Mr. Zompa brought large quantities of materials to the Site, including junked automobiles, scrap metal, electrical transformers, and other industrial equipment, some of which contained hazardous substances. In or about that time, DLA sold approximately 4.2 million pounds of surplus military equipment to Mr. Zompa. Between August and December 2008, EPA conducted a removal action at the Site, including the excavation and disposal off-site of over 3.4 million pounds of soil contaminated with hazardous substances, including PCBs, lead, and other heavy metals.

The Site consists of fields, woods, and wetlands. An intermittent stream flows from the Site to the adjacent Kickemuit River, which flows into the Kickemuit Reservoir, an important source of drinking water for the residents of Warren, Bristol, and Barrington, R.I.

After Mr. Zompa’s death in 2008, the ownership of a 15-acre property containing the majority of the Site, and a residential property in Barrington, R.I., transferred from Mr. Zompa to his Estate. The settlement requires the Estate to sell these properties and transfer 82 percent of the net proceeds to the United States. All of the settlement payments will be made to EPA’s Hazardous Substance Superfund, in reimbursement of the costs associated with cleaning up the Site.

The proposed Consent Decree is subject to a 30-day comment period, commencing on the date of publication of a notice of lodging in the Federal Register. In order for the settlement to be finalized, it first must be approved by the U.S. District Court.

More information: Proposed Zompa settlement and how to comment: http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html

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