FEBRUARY 13, 2015
Four companies that stored hazardous materials at a former Westmoreland County junkyard will pay a total of $1.2 million to the state to cover cleanup costs.
The payments are the result of consent decrees in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh between the companies and the Department of Environmental Protection.
The money covers the state’s cleanup costs for the 16-acre Everglade Iron and Steel Co. site in Hempfield. The money will be deposited into the state’s Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund, according to John Poister, DEP spokesman.
Terms of the settlement call for CBS Corp. of New York City to pay $850,000; West Penn Power to pay $100,000; and TDY Industries of Pittsburgh and Timken Co. of Canton, Ohio, to pay $125,000 each.
The property owner, Richard Liebman, already paid $300,000 to settle the state’s claims against him, according to the DEP.
The federal lawsuit initially sought to recover $2.3 million in costs. As part of the consent decree, the state forgave $685,000 related to groundwater remediation and investigation because “evidence as to their (the companies) contribution was not conclusive,” according to court documents.
The site served as a scrap-processing operation from the late 1940s to the 1980s. It was contaminated by chemicals leaking from transformers, capacitors, batteries and other scrap.
U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti on Thursday signed orders approving the settlements, which were posted on Friday.
Source: Tribune-Review (Greensburg, PA)