CBS Will Pay $31 Million to Clean Indiana Superfund Sites
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana, February 20, 2008 (ENS) – CBS Corp. has agreed to pay $31.35 million to resolve all outstanding liability related to the cleanup of six Superfund sites in and near Bloomington, Indiana, the U.S. Justice Department, Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Indiana announced Tuesday.
CBS is the corporate successor to Westinghouse Electric Corp., which operated an electrical capacitor production facility in Bloomington.
The insulating fluid used in the manufacturing of the electrical capacitors contained polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs, which are hazardous substances that do not break down readily by natural processes.
“We are pleased to have achieved what the citizens of Bloomington have long deserved and asked for – a comprehensive cleanup that will ensure that they, and their children, can live and work in a clean and safe environment,” said Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter.
This is the last in a series of partial settlements that have been negotiated with CBS over the past 10 years after the parties abandoned their original settlement, which required CBS to excavate and incinerate materials contaminated with PCBs.
“Today’s settlement is the last chapter in our long-standing effort to secure a solution fully addressing the problems of PCB contamination at the Bloomington Superfund sites,” said Ronald Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
“The settlement, which resolves litigation filed in 1985, underscores the Justice Department’s commitment to ensure that these hazardous waste sites are cleaned up, that the cleanup costs are borne by the responsible parties, and that injured or damaged natural resources are restored or replaced,” Tenpas said.
Under the global settlement, CBS has agreed to perform additional cleanup actions, worth an estimated $22.8 million, to remove PCBs from groundwater and streams at the last three sites.
CBS also will pay $6.67 million dollars to reimburse the Environmental Protection Agency for response costs incurred in investigating and cleaning up the sites.
Under the settlement, CBS has also agreed to pay $1.88 million to the Department of the Interior for the purpose of restoring or replacing natural resources that have been injured by on-going releases of PCBs from the sites.
When combined with response actions performed under prior settlements, CBS will have spent an estimated $247 million in addressing PCB contamination at the Bloomington Superfund sites.
Prior to 1972, defective capacitors were disposed of at local dumps, resulting in the release or threatened release of hundreds of tons of PCBs into the environment.
In addition, PCBs were discharged through the sewer system of the Westinghouse plant, resulting in contamination of the treatment works at the Winston Thomas Sewage Treatment Plant, which was permanently closed in the 1980s due to PCB contamination.
In 1985, after extensive litigation, CBS entered into a court-approved settlement with the United States, the State of Indiana, the City of Bloomington and Monroe County that required CBS to clean up six sites in and near Bloomington.
The settlement required CBS to dig up all materials within the confines of each site and burn the excavated material in an incinerator to be constructed and operated by CBS.
In the early 1990s, the parties decided to abandon the incineration remedy and return to negotiations in an effort to agree upon remedial measures to replace those in their original settlement.
“We are very pleased with this settlement, which provides for robust measures to protect human health and the environment,” said EPA Regional Administrator Mary Gade.
“The citizens of Bloomington have lived for too long with fish advisories because of the high concentrations of PCBs in fish in local streams,” she said. “The settlement puts into place measures that will reduce PCB levels in fish and bring about a day when fish in Clear Creek, Stout’s Creek and Richland Creek can be safely eaten by people and animals alike.”
