^^ \ UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY g REGION I IW^^ / J.F. KENNEDY FEDERAL BUILDING, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02203-2211 '-•< PRO! URGENT LEGAL MATTER -- PROMPT REPLY NECESSARY CERTIFIED MAIL; RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED SUFERFUND RECORDS CTR Site ^ftLt>-n> "^ernwry Q^JTCP April 26, 1993 Break; l*'1 HANDY Sc HARMAN-RELATED PARTIES/FACILITIES c/o Handy & Hartnan John C. Bullock, Jr., Environmental Counsel P.O. Box 1110 Waterbury, CT 06720 SDMS DocID 444498 Re: Notice of Potential Liability at Solvents Recovery Service of New England in Southington, Connecticut (the "Site") Facility/Related Party: Consolidated Tube (Waterbury, CT); Consolidated Tube Fabricating (Wolcott, CT); Connecticut Form Corporation Dear Mr. Bullock: This letter serves to notify you of the potential liability which youi: company has or may have incurred under Section 107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9607(a), with respect to the above- referenced site. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), by this letter, requests your voluntary participation in undertaking cleanup activities at the Site, and requests that you make restitution by payment of the costs incurred by the United States in its investigation and response activities at the Site. The Solvents Recovery Service of New England Superfund site is located on Lazy Lane in Southington, Connecticut approximately fifteen miles southwest of Hartford, Solvents Recovery Service of New England, Inc. (SRSNE) operated a treatment, disposal and storage facility at the Site from 1955 to 1991. When the Site was placed on the National Priorities List in 1983, it became eligible for cleanup under the CERCLA program (also known as Superfund). To prepare for the overall remediation of the Site, EPA is conducting a Remedial Investigation to identify the nature and extent of.the contamination at the Site and a Feasibility Study to analyze alternative cleanup strategies for the Site. NOTICE OF POTENTIAL LIABILITY AND REOUEST FOR PARTICIPATION IN CLEANUP ACTIVITIES The United States Environmental Protection Agency has documented the release and threatened release of hazardous substances, pollutants and contaminants at the above-referenced site. EPA has spent and is considering spending additional public funds on actions to investigate and control such releases or threatened releases at the Site. Under Sections 106(a) and 107(a) of CERCLA; Section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6973 (RCRA); and other laws, responsible parties may be obligated to implement the relief actions deemed necessary by EPA to protect the public health and welfare or the environment and they may be liable for all costs incurred by the government in responding to any release or threatened release at the Site. Such costs may include, but are not limited to, expenditures for investigation, planning, cleanup and enforcement activities. Responsible parties under Section 107(a) in CERCLA include current and former owners and operators of a site, persons who arranged for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances at a site or for transport of hazardous substances to a site, and persons who accepted any hazardous substances for transport to a site selected by such persons. During its investigation of the Site, EPA evaluated transactional documentation acquired from the owner/operator of the SRSNE facility, Mr. Carleton Boll, hazardous waste manifests acquired from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CT DEP), transporter records acquired from the transporter/RCRA section of the CT DEP, and other information. Based on this documentation, EPA believes that you, as a party who has arranged for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances at the Site or for transport of hazardous substances to the Site, are a Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) with respect to this Site. By this letter, EPA notifies you of your potential liability as a Potentially Responsible Party and encourages you to reimburse EPA for response costs that have been incurred to date and will be incurred at the Site during performance of the Remedial Design, the Remedial Action, and the Operation and Maintenance of the selected remedy. DEMAND FOR PAYMENT OF COSTS INCURRED TO DATE In accordance with CERCLA and other authorities, EPA has undertaken response actions at the Site and incurred costs amounting to approximately 5.26 million dollars. These actions, among others, include performance of a Remedial Investigation, implementation of a removal action to eliminate any potential for direct contact threats at the Site, the taking of enforcement actions against the owner/operator of the Site, and the identification of other PRPs for this Site. The Agency anticipates expending additional funds for response actions at the Site under the authority of CERCLA and other laws, including those response activities described below. In accordance with Section 107(a)(4)(D) of CERCLA, demand is hereby made for payment of all past response costs and all interest authorized to be recovered under that Section or under any other provisions of law. Demand is also hereby made under these authorities for payment of all future costs and interest that EPA may accrue in regard to the Site. FORTHCOMING RESPONSE ACTIVITIES AT THE SITE EPA has determined the following studies and activities to be necessary at the Site: 1. Continuation of a Remedial Investigation to define the nature and extent of soil, air, surface water and ground water contamination at the Site and to evaluate the risks they pose to human health and the environment; 2. Initiation of a Feasibility Study to evaluate the feasibility of possible remedial actions to remove, treat or contain the hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants at the Site that pose risks to human health and the environment; 3. The design and implementation of the remedial action selected by EPA for the Site; and 4. Operation, maintenance and monitoring as necessary at the Site. 5. Possible implementation of a non-time critical removal action. In addition to those activities enumerated above, EPA may, pursuant to its authorities under CERCLA and other laws, decide that other cleanup activities are necessary to protect public health, welfare or the environment. INFORMATION TO ASSIST RESPONSIBLE PARTIES PRP STEERING COMMITTEE Due to the large number of potentially responsible parties associated with this Site, EPA will not be able to negotiate with individual parties or committees. A Steering Committee to represent the PRPs at SRSNE has been formed. EPA encourages you to join the PRP steering committee which will function as a group representing and pursuing the interests of all the PRPs in negotiations with EPA. The present contacts for the Steering Committee are Rob Kirsch (617-526-6779) and Paul Wallach (617-525-6000), both with the law firm Hale and Dorr and Cynthia Bailey (804-649-4379) with the James River Corporation. The Committee has formed three subcommittees: 1) an Allocation Subcommittee (contact: Marc Silver (617-570-1869)); 2) a De Minimis Subcommittee (contact: Harlan Doliner (617-439-8900)); and 3) a Technical Subcommittee (contacts: Gus Moody (804-343-8525) and Bill Morris (203-238-6754)). You are strongly encouraged to join and actively participate in the PRP Steering Committee and its subcommittees. You should note that in prior settlements in cases such as this, EPA has made some attempt to recognize in the final allocation those parties that have joined the Steering Committee. In this case, EPA will consider and may reflect in the terms of any final settlement parties' participation in the Steering Committee. Should you choose not to participate in the Steering Committee, you will be given the opportunity to settle with the Government but only under the terms negotiated with the Committee. PRP-SPECIFIC INFORMATION In order to assist potentially responsible parties in their understanding of and preparation for the negotiation process, EPA is providing you with the following information: 1. A July 1992 fact sheet on the Superfund Enforcement Process at SRSNE (Enclosure A); 2. A May 1992 Superfund Program Information Update on the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study at the SRSNE site (Enclosure B); 3. A December 1992 fact sheet on the non-time critical removal (Enclosure C); 4. A list of the names and addresses of the potentially responsible parties who have received notification of their PRP status at this Site. This list represents EPA's preliminary findings on the identities of potentially responsible parties. Inclusion on or exclusion from the list does not constitute a final determination by the Agency concerning the liability of any party for the hazard or contamination at the Site. (Enclosure D); 5. An alphabetical listing of the potentially responsible parties identified at the Site and the volumes of the substances associated with each party. Under the terms of Section 122(e)(3)(C) of CERCLA, this list shall not constitute an apportionment or other statement by EPA on the divisibility of harm or causation in connection with the Site; nor shall the list be admissible as evidence in any proceeding. (Enclosure E); 6. A preliminary ranking of the PRPs by volumes of the substances sent to the Site. (Since this ranking does not reflect information received by EPA after November 1992, your name may not appear on this list.) (Enclosure F); and 7. A transactional document review packet which includes all the transactional documents provided by SRSNE, Inc. and/or CT DEP showing your company's involvement at the Site and the review forms which provide you the opportunity to dispute any of the information you may believe to be incorrect. (Enclosure G). ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD In accordance with Section 113(k) of CERCLA, EPA has established an Administrative Record containing the documents to be used by EPA in selecting the appropriate response action for the Site. This Administrative Record is open to the public for inspection and comment at the EPA Records Center on 90 Canal Street in Boston, Massachusetts.