[CPEO-MEF] Cleanup Deal in Glen Cove

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Utah
NEWSDAY
Cleanup Deal in Glen Cove
U.S. agencies to pay $27.5M to remove contaminated dirt
By Pat Burson
October 2, 2003

After more than a year of negotiations, Glen Cove officials said
yesterday the city, several federal agencies and a former smelting
company have reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection
Agency to remove mounds of contaminated dirt from city waterfront
property.

The federal government, on behalf of the Departments of Treasury,
Commerce, Defense and the General Services Administration, agreed to pay
$20 million into the EPA's Superfund account. The money will be used to
remove and transport to Utah about 60,000 cubic yards of contaminated
dirt, mostly low-level radioactive waste. The federal agencies would
then pay another $7.5 million for future cleanups at the site, based on
the current estimated cleanup cost of $54 million.

The site is on the north side of Glen Cove Creek. It is composed of the
26-acre former Li Tungsten Corp. property on Herb Hill Road and sections
of the Captain's Cove property, which is about a quarter-mile west of
the Li Tungsten parcel. Li Tungsten processed metals, and the federal
government owned some land and buildings on the property used to refine
tungsten for military efforts during World War II. In the late 1980s,
the EPA designated Li Tungsten and portions of Captain's Cove as a
federal Superfund site and began cleanup efforts.

Wah Chang Smelting and Refining Co., an ore-processing operation to the
west of Captain's Cove, and the four agencies were among those parties
the EPA deemed responsible for causing contamination of the site.
Although the agency did not find the city responsible for contaminating
the Captain's Cove property, EPA officials said under Superfund law it
was liable to pay a portion of the cleanup as a prior owner.

Under the settlement, the city will contribute $1.6 million toward
additional cleanup work at Captain's Cove. "This settlement will make
almost $30 million of new money available to remove all stockpiled
hazardous waste from Glen Cove's waterfront," Mayor Mary Ann Holzkamp
said. "It ensures that the cleanup of the Li Tungsten and Captain's Cove
properties will move forward without further delay. The settlement also
resolves a public health and environmental problem that has existed for
decades."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liglen023477577oct02,0,3649364.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines

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