SEFA

April 1, 1998

Superfund Fact Sheet

Gould Superfund Site

Portland, Oregon

Alaska

Region 10	Idaho

1200 Sixth Avenue	Oregon

Seattle WA 98101	Washington

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and nine Potentially Responsible Parties
(PRPs) have signed an agreement to complete the cleanup of contaminated soil at the Gould
Superfund site. PRPs include any individual or company such as owners of the site,
operators, transporters, or generators who might have contributed to the contamination
problems at a site.

Parties to the Agreement

The settling parties to this agreement with
EPA are: NL Industries, Inc.; Gould
Electronics Inc.; Rhone-Poulenc, Inc.;
Johnson Controls, Inc.; Exide Inc.; Lucent
Technologies, Inc.; Burlington Northern-
Santa Fe Railway Co.; ESCO Corp.; and
Schnitzer Investment Corp.

Terms of the agreement are proposed in a
Consent Decree lodged on March 10, 1998,
in U.S. District Court in Portland by the U.S.
Department of Justice. The proposed
Consent Decree was published in the March
25, 1998, Federal Register which triggered a
30-day public comment period. Written
comments should be sent by April 24, 1998
to:

Assistant Attorney General

for the Environment and Natural Resources

Department of Justice

Washington, DC 20530

Comments should refer to Docket No 90-11-
3-397C

Terms of the Proposed Consent
Decree

The proposed Consent Decree requires the
PRPs to:

• excavate the remaining battery casings
on the Gould property;

•	excavate and de-water contaminated
sediments from the East Doane Lake
remnant;

•	treat lead contaminated materials that
pose the main threat;

•	consolidate contaminated materials,
including sediments, treated and untreated
stockpiled materials, casings, soil and
debris in a lined and capped on-site
containment facility (OCF) to be
constructed on the Gould property.

The remedy also includes groundwater
monitoring, institutional controls (which
limit future use of the property so that the
OCF cap and liner system will not be
damaged), and long-term operation and
maintenance requirements.

The selected remedy defers a cleanup
decision on subsurface waste materials
located on the Rhone-Poulenc and ESCO
properties.

The estimated cost of the attempts to
implement portions of the previous remedy
were $25 million. The cleanup required by
the proposed Consent Decree is expected to
cost $ 15 million. In addition, all future
response costs in excess of $100,000 will
be reimbursed to EPA. In exchange for the
settling parties commitments to the
cleanup, EPA will waive its claim for the
reimbursement of $445,301 in past and
future response costs. As part of the
agreement, both EPA and the settling
parties have agreed to covenants not to sue.


-------
Background

The Gould site is located in a heavily industrialized area northwest of downtown
Portland, approximately 1,000 feet southwest of the Willamette River. In addition to
lead smelter and recycling operations on the Gould property, other industrial
properties within the site included disposal of lead contaminated wastes, and disposal
of pesticides, fungicides and insecticides. Much of this area was once part of Doane
Lake. Battery and smelter wastes along with a variety of other wastes were used in an
attempt to fill in the lake area. The Gould site was added to EPA's National Priorities
List in 1983.

In March 1988, EPA issued a Record of Decision, a document which identified the
recommended actions for cleaning up the contamination. EPA directed several of the
settling parties to implement the remedy in January 1992. Difficulties in
implementing the original remedy resulted in a ROD Amendment, issued in June
1997, which made changes in portions of the cleanup remedy.

^	y

For More Information

The proposed Consent Decree, ROD Amendment, and other documents pertaining to the
Gould site are available for your review at the Multnomah County Library, 1407 SW
Fourth Avenue, and at the EPA Records Center, 7th floor, 1200 Sixth Avenue in Seattle.

If you have questions about the site, please call:

Chip Humphrey, Project Manager at (503)326-2678,

Jean Baker, Community Relations Coordinator at (206) 553-2587.

For questions about the proposed Consent Decree, please call:

Ted Yackulic, Regional Counsel at (206) 553-1218.

The above can also be reached by calling EPA's toll-free number, 800-424-4372.

People with impaired hearing or speech may contact EPA's telecommunications device for the hearing impaired
(TDD) at (206) 553-1698. To ensure effective communication with everyone, additional services can be made
available to persons with disabilities by contacting one of the numbers listed above.


-------