Michael S. Regan 16th Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency | Official Website
On May 15, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that a court has approved a settlement agreement with 36 private parties and three federal agencies for the payment of EPA's past and future cleanup costs at the Missouri Electric Works Superfund Site in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The settlement agreement is authorized under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund.
According to the terms of the settlement, the private parties responsible for pollution will pay $6,074,739 and the federal agencies will contribute $600,798 to satisfy EPA’s past and future cleanup costs. In addition to this, the private parties will pay $625,261 and the federal agencies will pay $61,839 to the state of Missouri in settlement of state response costs.
The site in question is an approximately 6.4-acre parcel located in Cape Girardeau where Missouri Electric Works Inc., a former company that sold, serviced, and remanufactured transformers and other equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The release of PCBs and volatile organic compounds from this facility resulted in soil and groundwater contamination at the site. Since the 1980s, EPA has been overseeing investigation and cleanup at this location.
The property was designated as a Superfund site by EPA in 1990. Under Superfund regulations, EPA enforces the "polluter pays" principle which holds responsible parties accountable for cleanup and reimbursement of EPA’s oversight costs throughout a contaminated site’s history.
For more information about this case or to learn more about Superfund program itself visit their respective pages on EPA's website.
