104(E) Response

BLANK ROME COMISKY & MCCAULEY LLP. Counselors at Law Delaware Florida Maryland EPA Region 5 Records Ctr. Direct D.'al: New Jersey Email: New York Ohio 275712 Pennsylvania Washington, D C June 26, 2001 VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS Fouad Dababneh, Enforcement Specialist U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Remedial Enforcement Support Section 77 West Jackson Boulevard SR-6J Chicago, IL 60604-3590 Re: Responses to Section 104(e) Requests for Information/Skinner Landfill Site Dear Mr. Dababneh: Pursuant to U.S. EPA's request of May 24, 2001 and my telephone conversations with you and Craig Melodia on June 14 and June 22, 2001, enclosed please find responses of Martin E. Clarke to questions set forth in the May 24th correspondence from U.S. EPA. If you have any questions please call. athan Conte JC/ab CC: Annette Long, Esq. (w/'o enclosures) PNC Center, 201 East Fifth Street, Suite 1700 • Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 • 513.362.8700 • Fax: 513.362.8787 www.blankrome.com Responses of Martin E. Clarke to U.S. EPA Requests for Information dated May 24, 2001 4. List the name(s), primary place(s) of business, dates of operation, and EPA Identification Number(s) for each Respondent's current and former businesses, as well as any predecessors in interest, successors in interest, and any subsidiaries. Provide the information requested for all predecessors and successors in interest regardless of whether you believe Respondent has liability for their activities at the Site or they have liability for Respondent's activities at the Site. OBJECTION: Respondent objects to the extent that this Request for Information calls for a legal conclusion as to entities or persons that are predecessors and successors in interest to Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated. Mr. Clarke maintains that Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated holds no liabilities for actions or omissions of any person or entity taken either before or after the incorporation of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated. Notwithstanding the foregoing objection and without waiver thereof, Respondent replies as follows: RESPONSE: Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated was incorporated in 1967 and has operated from its current facility, which is situated, and has its primary place of business, at 2040 East Kemper Road, Sharonville, Ohio, since 1967. Prior to 1967, Thomas Cllarke, individually, operated the facility situated at 2040 East Kemper Road. Martin E. Clarke also formed Clarke Container, Inc. in 1987. The company is incorporated and the name is reserved, but the Company has not actively engaged in business: transactions, including any transactions regarding the Skinner Landfill. 5. Describe the business structure (e.g., corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship) of each of Respondent's current and former businesses, including any predecessors in interest, successors in interest, and any subsidiaries. Include in the description, but do not necessarily limit it to, the following: OBJECTION: Respondent objects to the extent that all subparts of Request for Information #5 ask for a legal conclusion as to entities or persons that are predecessors and successors in interest to Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated. Mr. Clarke maintains that Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated holds no liabilities for actions or omissions of any person or entity taken either before or after the incorporation of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated. Notwithstanding the foregoing objection, and without waiver thereof, Respondent responds as follows: a) The names, titles, and duties of the directors, officers and major shareholders for each predecessor in interest, successor in interest, and any subsidiaries at the time of: (i) their incorporation, (ii) sale of a major interest in stock or merger with a successor in interest, (iii) sale of assets, or (iv) dissolution or bankruptcy; RESPONSE: From 1967 through 1983, Thomas Clarke, Martin Clarke's father, was the controlling officer and major shareholder of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated. Martin Clarke purchased a controlling interest in Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated from his father in 1983. Martin Clarke is the sole sha reholder and officer of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated. Clarke Container, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 by Martin Clarke. However, that entity has never done business. Mr. Clarke is the sole shareholder and officer of that corporation. b) With regard to any mergers, sales of a majority interest in stock, or a sale of assets, provide a copy of all transaction-related documents, including but not limited to the final sales contract or purchase agreement executed between the parties, and all schedules, appendices, exhibits, valuations or appraisals of assets or other attachments; also identify all purchasers or recipients of any mergers, sales of a major interest in stock, or sales of assets; RESPONSE: In 1987 Mr. Clarke sold or leased the assets of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated to Mid-American Waste, Inc. Mr. Clarke did not sell his shares of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated systems, nor did Mr. Clarke sell the name Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated to Mid-American Waste, Inc. Documents relating to the sale or lease of those assets are attached as Exhibit 1. Mr. Clarke performed no activities for Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated between 1987 and 1993, although the corporation remained in good standing with the Ohio Secretary of State's Office. Since 1993, Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated has conducted its business as All-Star Container. Mid-American Waste has never had any ownership interest in Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated other than the 1987 purchase or lease of its assets. Martin E. Clarke has never had any ownership interest and has never held any officer or director positions with Mid-American Waste, Inc. c) All customers of any predecessor in interest in its last year of operation prior to any merger, sale of a majority interest in stock, or sale of assets, and all customers and suppliers of any successor in interest in its first two years of operation; RESPONSE: See Exhibit 1 for a list of customers of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated prior to the sale of its assets in 1987 to Mid-American Waste, Inc. Mr. Clarke does not have records of customers at the time of his purchase of the controlling interest in Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated in 1983. d) All supervisory personnel and employees of any predecessor in its last year of operation prior to any merger, sale of any major interest in stock or sale of assets, and all supervisory personnel and employees of any successor in interest in its first two years of operation subsequent to any merger, stock sale or sale of assets; RESPONSE: Mr. Clarke has not located any records setting forth supervisory personnel and employees of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated at the time he purchased a controlling interest in that entity in 1983. Employees of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated in or about 1987, the time Mr. Clarke sold or leased the assets of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated to Mid-American Waste, included: Rick Schindler, Bob Rosfeld, Mehari Tasfi, Don Stewart, and William Blevins. e) The location of the predecessor's business, its methods, and/or procedures, including the transport, storage, treatment or disposal of all waste material or hazardous substances, sale of any major interest in stock, or sale of assets with Respondent's business. Further identify the areas of the predecessor's business which were continued and the areas which were discontinued after the merger or sale, and the date of discontinuance; RESPONSE: Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated has always done business at its current location. Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated operated an incinerator from 1967 throuigh 1974, at which time the incinerators were shut down permanently. Ash from the incinerators was (and is) contained on the site. In 1974, Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated established a transfer station and accepted municipal waste from a number of municipalities in the area. The material was then transported to either Schilchter Landfill in Ross, Ohio or to the Bigfoot Landfill in Warren County, Ohio. Martin Clarke is unaware of any solid waste being transferred from Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated's Kemper Road Transfer Station to the Skinner landfill. f) Any and all obligations and liabilities of any predecessor in interest that were assumed by Respondent, and any and all obligations and liabilities of Respondent that were assumed by any successor in interest; O EJECTION: In addition to the objection set forth above regarding all subparts of Request for Information #5, Respondent objects to Request for Information 5f to the extent it asks Respondent to provide a legal conclusion regarding assumed obligations and liabilities. RESPONSE: Mr. Clarke is unaware of any liabilities he assumed when he purchased controlling interest in Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated in 1983. Mr. Clarke adds that the property on which Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated is and has been situated, 2040 E. Kemper Road, Sharonville, Ohio, has been investigated for the presence of Volatile Organic Compounds and other hazardous substances by U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA. Mr. Clarke has incurred past costs associated with these investigations and may continue to incur related costs in the future. The liabilities Mid-American Waste assumed when it purchased or leased the assets of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated in 1987 are set forth in Article 1 of the Asset Purchase Agreement included in Exhibit 1. g) Any re-location of the business operations by a successor in interest, from the place where such operations were conducted by a predecessor in interest, including the date and reasons for such re-location; RESPONS'E: The business operations of Clarke's Incinerators, Incorporated have always been situated at 2040 East Kemper Road, Sharonville, Ohio. h) Any appraisals or valuation of assets that were created or produced as part of negotiations for mergers, sales or purchases of major interests in stock, or sales of assets, whether or not such transactions were consummated.

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