(The Associated Press circulated the following article on August 3.)
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific says it will fight publicly and in court an order from the Environmental Protection Agency to handle the remaining cleanup for lead contamination in east Omaha.
In a news release Monday, UP said it only leased property to a smelting company, Asarco, and that ended in 1946 when Asarco bought the land and continued operating a smelter there until its closure in 1997.
At stake is an EPA-estimated $77.4 million for the cleanup of the 5,600 most contaminated properties, which is already under way, plus $70 million to $100 million for future cleanup of Omaha properties with less contamination.
Excessive lead is thought to be present in thousands of Omaha yards. The lead can endanger children’s health, causing decreased intelligence, slow growth and behavior problems.
Federal law allows the Environmental Protection Agency to designate as “Superfund” sites areas that are highly polluted. Officials can seek money from current and former owners for cleanup.
The EPA and Omaha-based Union Pacific have been negotiating a settlement. UP has offered $11 million; the EPA wants UP to assume full liability.
Union Pacific objects, saying it was only a landlord for Asarco. And, the railroad said in its release, studies have shown the primary source of lead contamination in the area is lead-based paint.
Bob Feild, project coordinator for the EPA cleanup, said Tuesday that the law doesn’t draw a distinction between the degrees of contribution. It simply makes landowners liable, too, whether they or their tenants actually contributed to the contamination, he said.
Nebraska’s congressional delegation has weighed in on behalf of the railroad.
A letter sent to EPA boss Stephen Johnson — signed by Sens. Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel and Reps. Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry and Tom Osborne — asks that the EPA not take any unilateral action and criticizes it for not pursuing other companies.
Asarco’s downtown lead refinery, which ran for more than 100 years, is responsible for more than two-thirds of the lead contamination in yards, says an EPA document filed in federal court.
The company has said its tests point to several sources of contamination, including gasoline fumes and pesticides. It also said lead from paint is the primary source of the Omaha contamination.
Asarco has agreed to pay $100 million in a deal with the U.S. government. In return, the Justice Department has observed a moratorium on legal action against Asarco over dozens of potential contamination cases.
That moratorium ends in February.
More than $3 million of Asarco’s money has already been spent in Omaha, said the EPA’s Feild, and $3 million more is being spent this year.
The government expects Asarco to contribute its fair share toward the cleanup, said Steven Sanders, the EPA attorney for the Omaha case. But he said he could not address what that might mean to Union Pacific, to any deal between UP and the EPA or to the Omaha cleanup effort.
Besides Asarco and Union Pacific, the EPA is looking at two other companies for their role in the contamination: Gould Electronics and Aaron Ferer & Sons.
Feilds said Tuesday that on March 31 the EPA ordered UP to take over the cleanup. But the order included a delayed effective date, which is now Aug. 31.
If there is no agreement by then, EPA lawyer Sanders said, then UP will be held responsible. If it refuses to do the work, he said, then EPA will continue the cleanup and decide later about what enforcement remedies to pursue, if any.
Field said the EPA recognizes that the lead-based exterior paint is a significant contributor to the contamination.
But, he said, the contaminated soil also “represents a serious threat to children’s health.”
He also said EPA is working on problems with lead-based exterior paint if paint flakes and chips could recontaminate the yards that had already been excavated and refilled with new dirt.