White Chemical Corporation Superfund Site (Board decision, May 1, 1997)

Plain-English summary

Monsanto Company, PPG Industries, Inc., and Rhone-Poulenc, Inc. had filed petitions seeking reimbursement connected to the White Chemical Corporation Superfund Site. The petitioners later agreed in a consent decree approved by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on or about April 3, 1997, to withdraw the petitions and not seek reimbursement under CERCLA section 106(b) for costs associated with the site. The Environmental Appeals Board granted the motion to withdraw and dismissed Petition Nos. 94-16, 94-17, and 94-18 with prejudice in their entirety. The order does not decide the reimbursement claims on their merits.

Decision snapshot

• Cited authorities: CERCLA § 106(b), 42 U.S.C. § 9606(b).
• Outcome: Procedural. Three reimbursement petitions were withdrawn and dismissed with prejudice.
• Key point: A federal consent decree led the EAB to close the three reimbursement petitions and bar their reinstatement.

Full text (EPA EAB public release)

BEFORE THE ENVIRONMENTAL APPEALS BOARD
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C.

In re:
White Chemical Corporation
) CERCLA 106(b) Petition Nos.
Superfund Site.
1 94-16, 94-17, and 94-18
1
1
ORDER DISMISSING PETITIONS FOR REIMBURSEMENT Petitioners Monsanto Company, PPG Industries, Inc., and Rhone-Poulenc, Inc. have moved to withdraw each of the above- captioned petitions for reimbursement. Accompanying the motion

is a copy of a consent decree entered in a civil action styled
United States v. Monsanto Comrsanv, PPG Industries, Inc., and
Rhone-Poulenc, Inc., No. 97-110 (DRD), in the United States
District Court for the District of New Jersey. In the consent

decree, approved by the District Court on or about April 3, 1997,
the petitioners agreed to withdraw CERCLA § 106(b) Petition Nos.
94-16, 94-17, and 94-18, and to refrain from either reinstating

those petitions or otherwise claiming reimbursement under CERCLA
§ 106(b) for costs associated with the White Chemical Corporation
Superfund Site. See Consent Decree section VIII, paragraph 15.
Petitioners' motion to withdraw their claims for reimbursement is hereby granted, and CERCLA § 106(b) Petition Nos. 94-16, 94-17, and 94-18 are dismissed with prejudice in

their entirety.

So ordered.

ENVIRONMENTAL APPEALS BOARD

By : ; .--
Edward E. Reich
Environmental Appeals Judge
Dated: MAY 1 1997

• 2 -
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing Order Dismissing Petitions for Reimbursement in the matter of the White Chemical Corporation Superfund Site, CERCLA 106(b) Petition Nos.
94-16, 94-17, and 94-18, were sent to the following persons in the manner indicated:

By First-Class Mail: Michael J. van Itallie, Esq.
Assistant Regional Counsel
U.S. EPA, Region II
290 Broadway
17th Floor
New York, NY 10007-1866

By Certified Mail: Brian S. Montag, Esq.
Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch
200 Campus Drive
Florham Park, NJ 07962-1945

Mildred T. ;aohnson
Secretary