This confidential chemical client operated a facility within the footprint of the Berry’s Creek Study Area (BCSA) Superfund site, also known as the Ventron/Velsicol site—a complex creek-and-marsh urban watershed covering 12-square miles within the Meadowlands of Bergen County, New Jersey. The site is impacted with PCBs, mercury, and other chemicals. Multiple companies operated in this area, including our client, and are considered potentially responsible parties (PRPs) for the investigation and clean-up of this site and formed a PRP group to undertake these activities.
The PRP group retained an impartial allocator to conduct the allocation. EHS Support was retained by this client to serve as their advocate throughout the allocation process for which EPA has approved an adaptive remedy. The allocation process involved interpreting the PRP group’s remedial investigation, feasibility study, risk assessments, and various studies. Hundreds of site-specific reports from the other PRP group member sites within the BCSA were also reviewed, and the combined data from these reports and documents were used to advocate for a fair allocation of costs amongst the PRP group members. EHS Support prepared various position papers in this advocacy and provided technical background to support client’s negotiation of a fair and reasonable allocation of costs.
EHS Support’s work on this project is ongoing. We have established a good working relationship with the allocator, and we have been successful in advocating favorable outcomes in initial work to date and continue to work towards an outcome in our client’s favor.
We also successfully advocated for this same client at another Superfund site within the BCSA. The outcome of this allocation process resulted in a substantial decrease in allocated costs for our client relative to the interim allocation, representing the largest decrease in costs for any of the PRP group members.