[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 132 (Tuesday, July 9, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36058-36059]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-17325]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5533-6]


Proposed Settlement Under Section 122(g) of the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act; Tulalip 
Landfill Superfund Site

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed administrative settlement and opportunity 
for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'') is 
proposing to enter into an administrative settlement to resolve claims 
under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and 
Liability Act of 1980, as amended (``CERCLA''). Notice is being 
published to inform the public of the proposed settlement and of the 
opportunity to comment. The settlement is intended to resolve past and 
estimated future liabilities of 187 de minimis parties for costs 
incurred, or to be incurred, by EPA at the Tulalip Landfill Superfund 
Site in Marysville, Washington.

DATES: Comments must be provided on or before August 8, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Docket Clerk, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, ORC-158, 1200 Sixth Avenue, 
Seattle, Washington 98101, and should refer to In Re Tulalip Landfill 
Superfund Site, Marysville, Washington, U.S. EPA Docket No. 1093-08-01-
104/122.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Colgate, Office of Environmental 
Cleanup (ECL-113), 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 
553-1815.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with Section 122(i)(1) of 
CERCLA, notice is hereby given of a proposed administrative settlement 
concerning the Tulalip Landfill hazardous waste site located on Ebey 
Island between Steamboat Slough and Ebey Slough in the Snohomish River 
delta system between Everett and Marysville, Washington. The Site was 
listed on the National Priorities List (``NPL'') on April 25, 1995. 60 
FR 20350 (April 25, 1995). Subject to review by the public pursuant to 
this Notice, the agreement has been approved by the United States 
Department of Justice. Below are listed the 184 parties who have 
executed the proposed Administrative Order on Consent.
    Ace Galvanizing; Alaskan Copper & Brass; Albertson Food Center/
Albertson's Inc.; All City Fence Company/All City Fence Co., Inc.; 
American Building Maintenance (ABM); American Can Company/MCR Holdings, 
Inc.; American President Lines/ American Mail Line; Arden Farms Co./
Arden-Mayfair, Inc.; Art's Food Center; Auto Warehousing; Baugh 
Construction Co.; Bayless Bindery, Inc.; Bayley Construction/ Robert E. 
Bayley Construction, Inc.; Bethlehem Steel ; Boise Cascade Office 
Supply/Boise Cascade Office Products; Bon Marche/The Bon, Inc./
Federated Department Stores, Inc.; Brandrud Manufacturing; Broadmoor 
Golf Club; Buffalo Sanitary Wipers/Buffalo Industries, Inc.; Burlington 
Northern Railroad/Burlington Northern, Inc.; Canteen Service, Inc.; 
Capital Industries, Inc.; Cases Inc./Flight Form Cases Inc.; Champion 
Bldg. Products/St. Regis/Champion International Corporation; Chemithon 
Corp.; Children's Orthopedic Hospital/Children's Hospital and Medical 
Center; City of Kirkland; City of Seattle; Commercial Warehouse; 
Consolidated Freightways/Consolidated Freightways Corporation of 
Delaware; Contour Laminates, Inc./Radeke Corporation; Craftsman Press, 
Inc.; Cree Construction; Crosby & Overton; Crow Roofing; CX Processing/
Gretag Imaging, Inc.; Darigold, Inc.; David A. Mowat Co.; Deeny 
Construction Co., Inc.; E & E Meats; Eagle Metals Co./Alcan Aluminum 
Corporation; Ellstrom Manufacturing; Everett Community College; Everett 
Herald; Fabricators Inc./Furon Company; Fentron Industries/Fentron 
Building Products, Inc.; Firestone Store; Fisher Flour Mills/Fisher 
Mills Inc.; Fishermen's Boat Shop, Inc.; Ford Motor Company; Foss 
Maritime Company; Foster & Kleiser/Ackerley Communications, Inc.; Fred 
Meyer; Gall & Landau Construction/Gall Landau Young Construction Co., 
Inc. ; General Construction/Fletcher General, Inc.; General-Haskell-
Amelco/Fletcher General, Inc./Haskell Corporation/Amelco Industries; 
General Hospital/Providence General Medical Center; General Services 
Administration; General Telephone (GTE)/GTE Northwest Inc.; Gordon 
Brown, Inc.; Group Health; Haight Roofing; Hardwood's Inc.; Henry Bacon 
Building Materials/CCD Enterprises; Hensel Phelps Construction; Herr 
Lumber Inc.; Hillis Homes, Inc./Centex Real Estate Corporation; 
Honeywell Inc./Alliant Techsystems Inc.; Howard S. Wright Construction/
Fletcher Wright, Inc.; Hurlen Construction; Hussmann Corporation; 
Impression NW/K/P Corporation; Independent Paper/Jefferson Smurfit 
Recycling Company; Industrial Transfer; Ivar's, Inc.; J. C. Penney 
Company, Inc.; Jacobson Brothers/Jacobson Terminals, Inc.; John Fluke 
Manufacturing Company/Fluke Corporation; K & N Meats; Keller Supply; 
Kenworth/PACCAR Inc.; King County; Kohkoku USA Inc./Achilles USA, Inc.; 
Lake Union Drydock Co.; Lake Union Terminal/Wards Cove Packing Company; 
Lakeside School; Lucks, Oscar; Lucky Stores, Inc.; Manson Construction; 
Marketime Drugs Inc.; Maust Corporation; Meltec; Meridian Excavating & 
Wrecking; Metro; Morel Foundry/Morel Industries; National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration; NC Machinery/SC Distribution Corp.; New 
Richmond Laundry; Newell, C. A.; Nordstrom Inc.; North Seattle 
Community College; North Shore; Northwest Home Furniture Mart; 
Northwest Hospital; Nuclear Pacific Inc./VIOX Corporation; NW Glass/TBG 
Inc.; NW Tank Service/NW Environmental Services; Oberto Sausage; 
Olson's Market Foods/Quality Food Centers, Inc.; Olympic Hotel/Four 
Seasons Hotel/Westin Hotel Company; Olympic Stained Products/Clorox 
Company/PPG Industries, Inc.; Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.; Pacific 
Fishermen, Inc.; Pacific Iron & Metal;

[[Page 36059]]

Pacific Multiform; Pacific Northwest Bell/US West Communications, Inc.; 
Pacific Partitions; Pampco Construction/Constructors-Pacific Company; 
Payless Drugs/Pay N Save/Thrifty Payless, Inc.; Pepsi/Seven-Up 
Bottling/Glaser Beverage/Alpac Corporation; Peter Pan Seafoods, Inc.; 
Petschl's Meats; Pike Place Market Authority; Pirates Plunder/Great 
Western Pacific, Inc.; Plaza 600/The Vance Corporation; Providence 
Hospital; PSF Industries; Purdy Company; QFC/Quality Food Centers, 
Inc.; R. C. Hedreen Company; Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI); Red 
Dot Corporation; Reynolds Aluminum Corp.; Richardson & Holland/Bunge 
Foods Corporation; Richmark Printing; Riches & Adams/Adams News Co., 
Inc.; Rubatino Refuse Removal, Inc.; SAFECO Insurance Company of 
America; Salmon Terminal/Olympic Steamship Co., Inc.; Sanitary Service 
Company, Inc./City of Bellingham; Scott Paper Company/Kimberly Clark 
Corporation; Scougal Rubber Corporation; Seaboard Lumber; Sealand 
Service Inc.; Seattle Central Community College; Seattle Community 
College District; Seattle District Corps of Engineers; Seattle First 
National Bank/Seafirst; Seattle Golf & Country Club; Seattle Iron & 
Metals Corporation; Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Seattle Seafood/
Washington Fish & Oyster Company/Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Inc.; Seattle 
Times; Seattle Trade Center; Seattle University; Sellen Construction 
Co, Inc.; Skyway Luggage Company; Snohomish County PUD; South Seattle 
Community College; SQI Roofing/SQI, Inc.; Star Machinery Co.; State of 
Washington Military Department; Swedish Hospital/Doctors Hospital; 
Texaco Inc./Texaco Refining & Marketing, Inc.; Thurman Electric & 
Plumbing Supply; Tiz's Door Sales; Trident Imports; Tullus Gordon 
Construction/Gordon Tullus Construction; Turner & Pease; U.S. Coast 
Guard; U.S. Postal Service; United Parcel Service; V.A. Hospitals/U.S. 
Department of Veterans Affairs; Virginia Mason Hospital; W. G. Clark 
Construction Co.; W. W. Wells Millworks; Wall & Ceiling Supply; 
Washington Chain & Supply; Washington Natural Gas Company; Washington 
Plaza/Seattle Westin Hotel Company/Westin Hotel Company/Benjamin 
Franklin Hotel, Inc.; Washington State Ferry; Washington State Liquor 
Warehouse; Welco Lumber Co.; West Coast Construction; West Waterway 
Lumber; Western Gear/Bucyrus-Erie Company; Weyerhaeuser.
    The EPA is entering into this agreement under the authority of 
sections 122(g), 106 and 107 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9622(g), 9606 and 
9607. Section 122(g) authorizes early settlements with de minimis 
parties to allow them to resolve their liabilities at Superfund sites 
without incurring substantial transaction costs. Under this authority, 
the agreement proposes to settle with parties in the Tulalip Landfill 
case who each are responsible for less than 0.6% of the volume of 
hazardous substances at the site.
    In February and March 1988, EPA contractor Ecology & Environment, 
Inc. (E&E) performed a site inspection of the landfill for NPL 
evaluation. The inspection revealed groundwater contamination with 
unacceptably high levels of arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, 
mercury, and silver. Water samples taken in the wetlands adjacent to 
the site showed exceedences of marine chronic criteria for cadmium, 
chromium, and lead as well as exceedences in marine acute criteria for 
copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, a variety of metals were found in 
on-site pools and leachate. The study concluded that contamination was 
migrating off site. On July 29, 1991, EPA proposed adding the Tulalip 
Landfill to the NPL, and on April 25, 1995, with the support of the 
Governor of the State of Washington and the Tulalip Tribes of 
Washington, EPA published the final rule adding the Site to the NPL.
    EPA is currently performing a Remedial Investigation (``RI'') and 
Feasibility Study (``FS'') pursuant to an Administrative Order on 
Consent with several potentially responsible parties. The FS is being 
conducted in two parts. The first part, which has been completed, 
evaluates various containment alternatives for the landfill source 
area, which includes approximately 147 acres in which waste was 
deposited. The second part will evaluate the off-source areas, which 
includes the wetlands and tidal channels that surround the landfill 
source area. On March 1, 1996, EPA issued a Record of Decision that 
selected an interim remedial action for the source area. The selected 
interim remedy requires installation of an engineered, low permeability 
cover over the source area of the landfill, at an estimated cost of 
$25.1 million. For purposes of this settlement, EPA estimates that the 
expected future response costs at the Site will be $33,543,626, 
including EPA's oversight costs.
    The proposed settlement requires each settling party to pay a fixed 
sum of money representing their volumetric share of EPA's past costs 
and the estimated costs of future response actions, plus a premium. The 
total amount that may be recovered from the proposed settlement is 
$8,130,610. Of the amount paid, $270,905 will reimburse a share of 
response costs incurred by EPA at the Site, and $7,859,705 will be 
deposited in the Tulalip Landfill Special Account within the EPA 
Hazardous Substance Superfund to be retained and used to conduct or 
finance response actions at or in connection with the Site. Upon full 
payment, each settling party will receive a release from further civil 
or administrative liabilities for the Site and statutory contribution 
protection under Section 122(g)(5), 42 U.S.C. 9622(g)(5).
    EPA will receive written comments relating to this proposed 
settlement for a period of thirty (30) days from the date of this 
publication.
    The proposed agreement may be obtained from Cindy Colgate, Office 
of Environmental Cleanup (ECL-113), 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, 
Washington 98101, (206) 553-1815. The Administrative Record for this 
settlement may be examined at the EPA's Region 10 office located at 
1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101 by contacting Lynn M. 
Williams, Superfund Records Manager, Office of Environmental Cleanup 
(ECL-113), 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 553-
2121.

    Authority: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation and Liability Act, as amended, 41 U.S.C. Sections 9601-
9675.
Jane S. Moore,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-17325 Filed 7-8-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P