Under the settlement, Hercules will pay a substantial portion of the costs needed to rid the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory site in Rocket Center, W.Va., of hazardous substances. Some of the money will go to the Environmental Protection Agency for overseeing the cleanup of the facility, while another portion of the money will go to the U.S. Navy for further environmental cleanups on navy-owned land.
The Department of Justice, which filed a complaint and accompanying consent decree Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, said the settlement marked the first time it had recovered environmental cleanup costs from a contractor on behalf of the Navy.
“Just like any other company, a government contractor that creates a contaminated site must take responsibility for cleaning up the site,” said Donald S. Welsh, the administrator for the EPA’s mid-Atlantic region. “EPA is pleased that today’s settlement recovers taxpayer money that EPA has spent on this cleanup.”
Don Schregardus, the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for the environment, added, “The Navy and Hercules had a longstanding relationship in the effort to develop and produce weapons systems to defend and protect our military and our nation. This agreement memorializes our shared commitment to further protect our nation by responsibly cleaning up our environment.”
According to the complaint in the case, Hercules manufactured rocket motors and fuel at the site, which led to environmental releases of organic solvents, explosives, propellants, metals and other hazardous substances. As of September 2005, the United States had already spent over $27 million cleaning up the area, the complaint said.
Hercules operated the the 1600-acre Allegany Ballistics Laboratory site from 1945 to 1995, and the site was placed on the EPA’s national priorities list in May 1994.
Meanwhile, Hercules sold its aerospace business in the mid-1990s and is no longer a defense contractor, according to Stu Fornoff, the director of investor relations for the chemical company.
“The lawsuit and the negotiations have been underway for quite a while and we are happy to get it behind us,” Fornoff said.
Hercules did not admit any wrongdoing in the matter.
Before it is finalized, the settlement is still subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. Judge Robert E. Maxwell has been assigned to the case.
The case is USA v. Hercules Inc., case number 07-cv-00087, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.