OMAHA, Neb.—A former owner of a Hastings plant has agreed to pay $1.16 million to the federal government to clean up contaminated soil and water at the site.
Pennsylvania-based Dravo Corp. reached a settlement this week to pay for the government’s cleanup costs after the release of hazardous substances from the Hastings Naval Ammunition Depot, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court on Tuesday.
The ammunition depot is one of at least six sources of contamination in Hastings identified by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The sources are known collectively as the Hastings Ground Water Contamination Site. The site includes an aquifer that supplies drinking water for Hastings and the contaminated soil that overlays it.
In 1986, the EPA put the site on its list of the nation’s worst Superfund sites.
Contaminated soil and groundwater has been found in areas around the 48,000-acre depot, including at the Hastings East Industrial Park, according to court documents.
Dravo owned and operated the property and a manufacturing operation there from 1975 until 1982. The company primarily used the site to manufacture heating and cooling units for commercial and industrial customers, said Dee Haussler, director of the Hastings Economic Development Corp.
Dravo Corp. has since been acquired by Carmeuse Lime Inc.
Each company that’s operated at the ammunition depot site since 1968 has used a vapor degreaser for cleaning equipment. The contamination resulted from discharge of the solvent used for degreasing metals into drains and sewer lines, as well as the improper disposal and spills of two specific toxic substances used in degreaser, according to the government’s original complaint filed in 2004.
Dravo has 45 days from Tuesday’s settlement to pay. If it does not pay, a penalty of $5,000 per day will be assessed, according to the settlement.
EPA spokesman David Bryan said the settlement is unrelated to a 2006 deal in which Dravo and another company, Desco Corp., agreed to pay a combined $7.3 million to the EPA to clean up contamination at another manufacturing plant in the area.
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