Monday, August 13, 2012

Four Companies Take Next Steps in California Superfund Cleanup



The Environmental Protection Agency reached an agreement with four companies to get the Montrose and Del Amo Superfund sites cleaned up in Torrance, Calif., according to an EPA press release.

This agreement continues the process of closing the contamination books on these notorious sites polluted with monochlorobenzene, a raw material used in making DDT, as well as benzene, naphthalene and ethyl benzene. The two sites are adjacent to one another. Owners of the Montrose site made DDT from 1947 until 1982 while the Del Amo site was a rubber manufacturing facility.

The four companies will build and operate a groundwater treatment system that will pull and treat 700 gallons of water each minute. That equals a million gallons a day. Shell started cleaning up the Del Amo site in 1999 when it put impermeable caps on waste pits and set up a soil vapor extraction system. Over the years, DDT-contaminated soils have been removed from local neighborhoods as well. The cost of the new actions is expected to be a little more than $14 million, with construction of the water treatment facility taking 18 months.

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