Tippecanoe Landfill

[Sanjour.William@epamail.epa.gov]

 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
                        WASHINGTON, D.C.20460

                                  July 22, 1998

Hon. Carol M. Browner
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC  20460

Dear Ms. Browner:

In a recent speech you said:

    [W]e have kept faith with the original promise of the
    Superfund law -- protect public health and the environment first--
    and ensure that, wherever possible and appropriate, those
    responsible for polluting a site, and not the taxpayers, will be held
    responsible for the costs of cleaning it up.(1)

In charging the polluters with the responsibility for cleaning up
their own mess, you reiterated the pledge made to the American
people by Congress and past administrations.  Nevertheless there
appears to be a trend in Superfund cleanups of letting the
polluters go free while the victims are made to pay.  And this is
taking place with the full knowledge and cooperation of EPA
personnel.

The case in point is the Tippecanoe Sanitary Landfill in
Tippecanoe County, Indiana, a Superfund site on the EPA
National Priority List.

     In 1979, ALCOA, Lafayette, Indiana, advised the
    State that its aluminum-lime sludge, which had been hauled to the
    site since 1973, had been found to contain significant levels of
    PCBs.  Disposal of the sludge ceased, but considerable quantities
    had already been deposited at the site.

     In December 1983, the Indiana State Board of
    Health found that a nearby well contained PCBs and acetone, as
    well as lead and cadmium, at levels exceeding Federal primary
    drinking water standards. An estimated 81,000 people obtain
    drinking water from public and private wells within 3 miles of the
    site. (2)

Thirty-five Potentially Responsible Parties were identified by EPA
(3) including such well known corporations as:

     Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA)

     Purdue University

     TRW Inc.

     Cargill Co.

     Catepillar Inc.

     CSX Transportation

     Phillips Components

     General Telephone Co.

     Allen Bradley Company Inc.

     Indiana Gas Company, Inc.

     Public Service Company of Indiana, Inc.

     Great Lakes Chemical Corporation.

Nineteen of these formed the Tippecanoe Sanitary Landfill
Potentially Responsible Parties Group and through some
remarkable finagling were able to get the Indiana State Legislature
to pass a law which allowed the formation of the Tippecanoe
Income Tax Council which in turn taxed the income of the private
citizens of Tippecanoe County for the entire cost of the cleanup.
The big corporations did not pay one cent toward the cost of site
remediation.

The citizens of Tippecanoe County are not alone.  I have also
learned that at the Kysor Industrial Corp. Superfund site in
Cadillac, Michigan, the local citizens have been taxed to help
cleanup a purely industrial pollution problem.

Close in  time to when you were telling the public that the Clinton
Administration was "making sure that the cost of cleanup is picked
up by the big polluters who made the mess"(4) EPA was telling the
citizens of Tippecanoe County that

     EPA does not dictate how the group of PRPs
    (potentially responsible parties) is to obtain the funds that it will
    use to pay for its share of the work. The tax that has been
    imposed on the local taxpayers was something that was brought
    about by one or more of the local government bodies.  USEPA
    CANNOT PREVENT THIS METHOD OF FINANCING FROM
    BEING USED.  [Emphasis added.] (5)

Clearly one or the other of these two statements is false.  I hope
and I trust it is the later.  I know you cannot be aware of every
decision made in this vast organization so I have brought this to
your attention in the hope that you will halt this dangerous trend
which violates the spirit if not the letter of the law and makes a
mockery of the administration's assurances.

Sincerely yours,
       /S/
William Sanjour

cc: EPA Inspector General
     Jeff Symmes


                                  NOTES

(1). Carol M. Browner, Administrator, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Remarks Prepared for Delivery, 500th
Construction Completion Site Celebration Publicker Industries
Superfund Site Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 10, 1997.

(2). USEPA National Priority List Site Narrative for the
Tippecanoe Sanitary Landfill, Inc., August 30, 1990.

(3). Richard C. Karl, Chief IL/IN Remedial Response Branch,
USEPA Region 5, letter to Potentialy Responsible Parties, July 13,
1992.

(4). USEPA Headquarters press release of December 10, 1997.

(5). William E. Muno, Superfund Division Director, USEPA Region
5, Record of Decision for the Tippecanoe Sanitary Landfill Site,
September 30, 1997.