31 Companies Settle with EPA to Fund Study of Lower Passaic River

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced an agreement with 31 companies to provide funding to continue with the Superfund Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) portion of the Lower Passaic River Restoration Project in New Jersey.

"This is an important milestone for the future of the Passaic River. Through this settlement, these companies are demonstrating their willingness to cooperate with EPA's commitment to find a lasting solution to the environmental challenges of the Passaic River," said EPA Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny.

"EPA avoids difficult and prolonged litigation by allowing these companies to make a cash payment to fund these studies," Kenny added.

The project is a collaboration among EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to produce a plan to clean up and restore the 17-mile tidal stretch of the Passaic River from Dundee Dam to Newark Bay.

The project, which will cost approximately $19,000,000, is being performed by EPA under its Superfund authorities and by USACE and NJDOT under the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) .

Through the agreement, embodied in an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC), the companies will pay $10,000,000 — the estimated cost of EPA's share of the project — to resolve their liability with respect to the RI/FS. A 30-day public comment period on the AOC runs through June 18.

Information and data gathered about the river will also serve as a tool to assist the Federal and State Natural Resource Trustees to assess natural resource damages.

List of Settling Parties:

Alcan Corporation
Alliance Chemical, Inc.
Amerada Hess Corporation, on its own behalf and on behalf of Atlantic Richfield Co.
Ashland, Inc.
BASF Corporation
Benjamin Moore & Company
Celanese LTD
Coltec Industries Inc.
Curtiss-Wright Corp.
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Essex Chemical Corp.
Franklin-Burlington Plastics, Inc.
Goody Products, Inc.
Lucent Technologies, Inc.
Mallinckrodt, Inc.
News America Incorporated
NPEC, Inc.
Occidental Chemical Corporation (as successor to Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Co.)
Otis Elevator Company
Pfizer Inc.
PPG Industries, Inc.
PSE&G Co.
Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. (n/k/a Reichhold, Inc.)
Reilly Industries, Inc.
RSR Corporation
Safety-Kleen Envirosystems Company
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.
The Andrew Jergens Co.
The Sherwin Williams Company
Three County Volkswagen
Viacom, Inc.