San Jacinto Superfund Responsible Parties Must Submit To Outside Review

The EPA has been steadily increasing its oversight on the two companies responsible for cleaning up the Northern Pit of the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site.  First the agency wrote last summer that it would not grant International Paper Company and McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation any more delays in finalizing the remediation plan for the Northern Pit.  Then in the fall, officials rejected the companies’ proposal to simply cap the toxic chemicals in a section of the pit. 

Now the EPA is requiring the responsible parties to bring in an outside firm to do an independent review of its plans.

In calling for the independent review, the EPA called out the companies for “a lack of explanation, documentation, or support of that evaluation, even when the selected design option creates additional implementability challenges or risks

The two companies accepted the EPA’s order in January and now they are negotiating with the EPA on the scope of that review. 

THEA continues to monitor the negotiations closely and will update you as information is released.