WHITE PLAINS – The federal government has settled a Superfund case for the release of mercury at Port Refinery, Inc., a mercury refining business in the Village of Rye Brook.
The Environmental Protection Agency filed a civil lawsuit against E. I. DuPont De Nemours and Company, D & H Salvage Corporation, Oxy USA Inc., and W.A. Baum, Inc. and simultaneously filed a consent decree settling the lawsuit.
The consent decree provides for a combined payment of $1.4 million by the companies for costs incurred by the EPA to clean up the site by, among other things, excavating and disposing of over 9,300 tons of mercury-contaminated soil.
EPA determined that from the 1970s through the early 1990s, Port Refinery engaged in, among other functions, the business of mercury reclaiming, refining and processing. The federal agency determined the company took virtually no environmental precautions or safety measures during the mercury refining process and released a significant amount of mercury into the environment, contaminating the site.
This lawsuit was the sixth against responsible parties to recover clean-up costs for the second clean-up at the site.
With this settlement, the EPA has recovered close to $2.4 million from responsible parties.
