The Environmental Protection Agency reached a $21.8 million settlement with 95 parties to help clean up a Superfund site once home to solvent recycling company Spectron, the agency announced Thursday.
The defendants agreed to pay to remove chemicals from the site, located in a rural residential area just outside of Elkton, at an estimated cost of $19.5 million, the EPA said in a news release.
Two companies controlled the 8-acre site from 1961 to 1988, reprocessing wastes from the pharmaceutical, paint and chemical processing industries. The second owner, Spectron Inc., filed for bankruptcy in 1988 and closed the site.
Spectron abandoned 500,000 gallons of flammable liquids at the site. The soil and groundwater were contaminated with compounds such as trichloroethene and perchloroethane, the EPA said.
The EPA removed and disposed of about 1,300 drums and 62 tanks in 1989 and sought funding from parties believed responsible for creating the hazardous waste site.
Carrie Deitzel of the EPA says the biggest concern has been the site?s proximity to nearby homes.
Water from the site had been discharging into a nearby creek.
The EPA inserted a giant French drain to channel groundwater from the site into a treatment facility, where toxic chemicals are removed before the water is discharged back into the creek.
Charles Smyser, Director of Environmental Health for the Cecil County Health Department, said he was satisfied with how the EPA handled the contamination. “Anything done to clean that area up is wonderful.”
The total estimated cost of the clean-up couldreach $39.65 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
