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EPA Announces $8 Million in Settlements on Casmailia Site, 25 de minimis waste generators pay their share

Release Date: 10/2/2003
Contact Information: Lisa Fasano (415) 947-4307

     SAN FRANCISCO    The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it signed a settlement worth over $8 million with 25 parties involved with the Casmalia Resources Hazardous Waste Management Facility Superfund site in Central California.   The Site was listed on the National Priorities List on September 13, 2001.
  Each of these settling parties are considered de minimis waste generators because on an individual basis they sent relatively small volumes of waste to the site.  The settlements require the 25 parties to pay their pro rata share of total estimated site costs based on volume, plus a premium on future costs.
     "I am pleased to see these parties stepping up and taking responsibility for their share of this problem," said Keith Takata, EPA's Superfund Division Director for the Pacific Southwest region.  "This settlement brings in additional funding to help us continue the cleanup effort at the site."
     This settlement also resolves the 25 parties' potential liability to the State of California and several State and federal natural resource trustee agencies.  It is one of a series of cash settlements EPA has entered into and will continue to enter into with de minimis parties at the Site.
  During its 17 years of operation between 1972 and 1989, the site accepted in excess of 5 billion pounds of liquid and solid hazardous waste.  The landfills are estimated to hold seven million drums of disposed waste material.  The massive volume of waste disposal is attributable to over 10,000 private and governmental entities.
  By the summer of 1992, the Site's condition had deteriorated to the point that it was in need of certain short-term response actions to maintain control of the environmental problems at the site, particularly as the rainy season approached.  Therefore, EPA addressed the site's immediate liquids management, erosion control, and security problems through it's the Superfund process.
  The United States  held a 30-day public comment period on the settlement, and received two comments, to which it has responded.  The settlement becomes final upon EPA's signature.
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