Case Summary: EPA Reaches Settlement for Soil Clean up at South-Bay Superfund Site in California
On September 30, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement valued at $55 million with Shell Oil Company and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) for the cleanup of contaminated soil at the Del Amo Superfund Site in Los Angeles, Calif. The cleanup work will prevent surface exposure of industrial chemicals and reduce sources of groundwater contamination from across the 280-acre site.
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Information about the Del Amo Superfund Site
The Del Amo Superfund Site is a 280-acre site located in Los Angeles, Calif. and was the location of a synthetic rubber manufacturing plant that operated from about 1940 to 1972. Benzene, propane, butylene and butane, were used to produce synthetic rubber and were disposed in unlined pits and ponds and covered with soil, resulting in contamination of soil and groundwater. Groundwater and soils are contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and minor amounts of pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and heavy metals.
GSA is the successor to the plant’s former federal government owners, the Defense Plant Corporation and Rubber Reserve Company. Shell was a former operator and eventual owner of the plant.
For more information on the Del Amo Superfund Site.
Summary of the Consent Decree
The settlement, in the form of a consent decree, requires Shell to implement the remedial action selected by EPA in the 2011 Record of Decision. EPA expects the work to cost approximately $53,893,000. In addition, Shell is required to pay EPA $1.2 million as reimbursement of past costs and to pay EPA’s future oversight costs. The state of California also brought a claim on behalf of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), and the consent decree requires Shell to reimburse DTSC’s past and future oversight costs.
The consent decree was lodged with the United States District Court, Central District of California, on September 29, 2015. The public comment period has closed and EPA is awaiting approval of the settlement by the Court.
Contact Information
For information contact
Sarah E. Mueller
Office of Regional Counsel
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 9
75 Hawthorne St., ORC-3
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-972-3953
mueller.sarah@epa.gov