WR Grace Puts $32 Million Into Cleanup

WR Grace Puts $32 Million Into Cleanup

January 2008  - The global supplier of specialty 
chemicals W.R. Grace has agreed to a $34 million bankruptcy settlement for 
cleanup costs at 32 Superfund sites across the country, the U.S. Justice 
Department said Wednesday. 
The federal government determined that W.R. Grace contributed to the 
contamination at these 32 sites. 
The action settles a bankruptcy claim brought by the federal government to 
recover money for Superfund site cleanup. Superfund is the federal program 
that investigates and cleans up the most complex uncontrolled or abandoned 
hazardous waste sites in the country. 
With corporate headquarters in Columbia, Maryland, and employees in 40 
countries, the company manufactures construction chemicals, building 
materials and chemical additives, catalysts used by petroleum refineries, 
and chemicals used in ink jet paper, paints, toothpastes, rubber 
compounds, insulated glass, as well as in edible oil refining. 
One of the 32 sites covered in the settlement is the R&H Oil Company site, 
an inactive refinery and gasoline blending facility in a densely populated 
area of San Antonio, Texas. 
Several spills and other releases of petroleum waste during operations 
have resulted in the contamination of shallow ground water beneath the 
facility and threaten nearby municipal drinking water wells used by the 
city of San Antonio. 

Another of the contaminated sites is surrounded by cattle grazing land in 
Santa Barbara County, California. From 1973 to 1989, the Casmalia 
Resources Hazardous Waste Management Facility on this site accepted more 
than 4.5 billion pounds of industrial and commercial wastes. The wastes 
included pesticides, solvents, acids, metals, caustics, cyanide, and 
non-liquid polychlorinated biphenyls. 
The owners/operators stopped accepting waste at the facility in 1989, and 
abandoned efforts to properly close and clean up the site in the early 
1990s. 
The accumulation of problems proved too much for the financial resources 
of W.R. Grace and 61 affiliated companies. They filed for bankruptcy in 
April 2001, but the federal government did not give up its efforts to 
recover some money for cleanup of the contaminated sites. 
"Bankruptcy is not a safe haven to avoid environmental responsibilities," 
said Catherine McCabe, principal deputy assistant administrator for the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and 
Compliance Assurance. "EPA will keep pursuing companies who pollute the 
environment." 
In March 2003, the EPA filed claims against the company to recover past 
and future cleanup costs. 
The $34 million settlement will be used to reimburse EPA for past costs 
and to pay for future costs associated with cleaning up at hazardous waste 
sites in 18 states. 
The settlement agreement will be lodged in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for 
the District of Delaware and is subject to court approval after a 30-day 
public comment period. 
Upon approval of the bankruptcy court, EPA will have an allowed claim in 
Grace's bankruptcy. Grace's plan of reorganization will determine the 
extent to which allowed claims will be paid. 
This settlement agreement does not resolve environmental claims related to 
the cleanup of the Libby Asbestos Site in Libby, Montana, and the Curtis 
Bay Site near Baltimore. These claims are still pending. 
"This settlement will make money available to substantially help the 
cleanup of many Superfund sites around the country," said Ronald Tenpas, 
assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and 
Natural Resources Division. "This settlement is a good outcome for both 
the taxpayers and the environment." 

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