EPA Reaches Settlements on Cleaning Contaminated Water

Six companies, including aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, have agreed to pay more than $3 million to help clean up contaminated groundwater in North Hollywood and Glendale. The contamination is in a Superfund site overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The settlements with the companies highlight’s the agency’s priority to clean up drinking water sources, said Jane Diamond, director of the Superfund Division in EPA’s Pacific Southwest regional office. “In addition to cleaning up groundwater for use as drinking water, we are making sure those responsible for the contamination pay their fair share of the cleanup costs, leveraging the taxpayer’s dollars to conduct further cleanups,” Diamond said. Honeywell International and Lockheed Martin Corp. will pay $2.2 million for design work on an expanded cleanup system to treat contaminated groundwater in the North Hollywood area. The EPA will continue to negotiate with a larger group of companies on an agreement for payment to construct and operate the system. In Glendale, Goodrich Corp., ITT Corp., Lockheed Martin, and PRC DeSoto International will invest $1 million for the EPA to investigate chromium contamination in groundwater and $750,000 in partial settlement of their share of EPA’s past costs that will be used on the chromium groundwater investigation and cleanup. The EPA has been active in cleaning up groundwater contamination since the 1980s. Mark R. Madler