All News Releases By Date

Owner and 39 Waste Generators Agree to Clean Up Jack’s Creek/Sitkin Smelting Superfund Site - 81 Other Parties to Pay $3 Million in Cleanup Costs

Release Date: 7/29/1999
Contact Information: Donna Heron (215) 814-5113

MAITLAND, Pa. -- The United States and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have reached a proposed settlement with 121 parties over the cleanup of the Jack’s Creek/Sitkin Smelting Superfund Site in Maitland, Pa. The proposed consent decree was filed in federal court in Harrisburg July 28.

Under the settlement, the current owner and operator of the site (Joseph Krentzman & Son, Inc.) and 39 parties who allegedly generated hazardous substances contaminating the property have agreed to carry out an EPA and DEP-approved cleanup plan. In addition, 81 parties that contributed smaller amounts of waste at the site have agreed to pay a total of $3,053,482 to fund the cleanup. Moreover, certain parties have agreed to pay the DEP $73,700 in reimbursement of its response costs.

Under the Superfund law, the parties responsible for creating a hazardous waste site are responsible for cleaning up the site, or reimbursing the government or other parties for cleanup activities.

The 105-acre Mifflin County site is the former location of the Sitkin Smelting facility. From 1958 to 1977, Sitkin Smelting used the site to process and reclaim scrap and precious metals, and break apart batteries and transformers. Sitkin Smelting operated four furnaces for producing brass, bronze, and copper ingots from scrap metal, as well as lead and aluminum smelters. Byproducts of these scrap operations have been found in the soils at the site. Significant contaminants include aluminum, antimony, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, selenium, silver, vanadium, zinc, PCBs and dioxins.

Sitkin Smelting declared bankruptcy in 1977, and most of its property was purchased by Joseph Krentzman & Sons for scrap recycling operations.

EPA designated the property as a Superfund site in 1989. In 1994, 113 other parties that had contributed relatively small amounts of the hazardous substances agreed to pay $3.7 million settlement toward cleanup costs.

In September 1997, EPA issued a plan for the cleanup of the entire site. The cleanup plan, which has an estimated cost of $12.5 million, involves the consolidation and capping of contaminated soils and other materials; the area to be used for the consolidation of these waste will be on a currently unused portion of the Site. The cleanup plan also requires the disposal of materials with high concentrations of contamination at a location outside of the site.

The proposed settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

Under today’s settlement, the following 40 parties have agreed to conduct this cleanup:

A & D RECYCLING, INC.,
AMP INCORPORATED,
ALLEGHENY POWER SERVICE CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF MONONGAHELA POWER CO., POTOMAC EDISON COMPANY, AND WEST PENN POWER CO.),
ATKIN’S WASTE MATERIALS, INC.,
BP AMERICA, INC.,
BRENNER COMPANIES, INC.,
M.H. BRENNER RECYCLING, INC.,
CENTRAL BRASS MANUFACTURING CO.,
CERRO METAL PRODUCTS CO.,
CHARLES BLUESTONE CO.,
CHARLES CARRACCIOLO STEEL & METAL YARD, INC.,
COLONIAL METALS CO.,
CONBRACO INDUSTRIES, INC.,
CORNING INCORPORATED,
GCF, INC., CHAPIN & FAGIN DIV.,
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION,
HURON VALLEY STEEL CORPORATION,
JOE KRENTZMAN & SON, INC.
LAKE ERIE RECYCLING CORP.,
LANCASTER STEEL SERVICE CO., INC.,
LEVIN LLC.,
M & M METALS INTERNATIONAL, INC.,
MERCOMP, INC.,
MUELLER BRASS CO.,
NL INDUSTRIES, INC.,
NIBCO, INC.,
PENN HARRIS METALS CORP.,/B. ABRAMS & SONS INC.,
PENNSYLVANIA ELECTRIC COMPANY,
PNEUMO ABEX CORPORATION,
POLAROID CORPORATION,
RANDALL BEARINGS, INC.,
ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION,
SCOTT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.,
THE DOVER TRUST AS SUCCESSOR TO THE SHENANGO FURNACE COMPANY,
SOUTHERN STATES,
STAIMAN BROTHERS, INC.,
TUBE CITY, INC.,
UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION,
VULCAN MATERIALS COMPANY,
WIMCO METALS, INC.,

Also in today’s settlement, the following 81 “de minimis” parties have agreed to a pay a total of $3,053,482 in resolution of their potential liability at the Site:

ABE COOPER - SYRACUSE, INC.,
ACKERMAN METALS, INC.,
ALEXANDRIA SCRAP CORPORATION,
ATLANTA METAL INC.,
ATLAS-LEDERER CO.,
AUTODYNE MFG. CO., INC.,
BAY METAL, INC.,
BEN SINGER & SONS, INC.,
BENJAMIN RUBENSTEIN AND SONS INC.,
BERMAN BROS. INC.,
BOBRY, INC.,
CALAMARI BROTHERS COMPANY, INC.,
CAMBRIDGE IRON & METAL CO., INC.,
CAMSCO MANUFACTURING CORP.,
CLAD METALS CO.,
CONSOLIDATED SCRAP PROCESSING, INC.,
COUSINS METAL INDUSTRIES, INC.,
DAVIS INDUSTRIES, INC.,
DIVERSIFIED SCRAP METAL, INC.,
DOYLE & ROTH MFG. CO., INC.,
EASTMAN KODAK CO.,
ELG METALS, INC.,
EMPIRE METALS, INC.,
FALCON FOUNDRY CO.,
ANDY FERGUSON,
DAVID FERGUSON,
JOYCE FERGUSON (THE FERGUSONS WERE FORMER SHAREHOLDERS OF J.T. KNIGHT OF ATLANTA, INC.),
FOIL’S, INC.,
FT. WAYNE FOUNDRY CORPORATION,
G.M. HONKUS & SONS,
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY,
GORDON WASTE COMPANY,
GRANT STEEL CORPORATION,
GUTTERMAN IRON & METAL CORP.,
H & S METALS CORP.,
HALPERN & CO., INC.,
JAMES BURROWS CO., INC.,
KLOTZ BROS., INC.,
L. GORDON IRON & METAL CO.,
L. LAVETAN & SONS, INC.,
LIBERTY IRON & METAL COMPANY, INC.,
LUNTZ SERVICES CORP.,
M. KIMERLING & SONS, INC.,
M. WEINGOLD AND CO.,
MAX WEINSTEIN & SONS, INC.,
MIDWEST METALLICS, L.P.,
MILLENNIUM PETROCHEMICALS INC.,
MONONGAHELA IRON & METAL CO., INC.,
NAPORANO IRON & METAL CO.,
NEPS HOLDING CORP., INC.,
NEWELL ENTERPRISES, INC.,
NEWELL RECYCLING CO., INC.,
OVERHEAD DOOR CORPORATION,
PASCAP CO.,
PHILIP LEWIS & SONS, INC.,
PHILIP METALS, INC.,
POOR CHARLIE AND COMPANY,
R. FREEDMAN & SON, INC.,
R.C.A. CORPORATION,
ROBERTSHAW CONTROLS CO.,
ROTH STEEL CORPORATION,
SALITSKY ALLOYS, INC.,
SEGEL & SON INC.,
SOL ALMAN CO.,
SOL WALKER & COMPANY, INC.
ESTATE OF SOL WALKER,
STAGER ENTERPRISES, INC.,
STAIMAN INDUSTRIES,
STANDARD STEEL,
STANLEY T. MILLER,
SUPER SALVAGE, INC.,
SUSSMAN BROTHERS & COMPANY,
TELEDYNE ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES,
TOMBARELLO ENTERPRISES, INC.,
TRI-MET DIE CASTERS INC.,
UNIROYAL CHEMICAL COMPANY, INC.,
UNITED HOLDINGS CO., INC.,
V. VACCARO & SONS, INC.,
VALEO, INC.,
WARD MANUFACTURING, INC.,
WEBER KNAPP CO.,
WITCO CORPORATION,
ZUCKERMAN CO., INC.