EPA Files Superfund Suit Against Denver, Waste Management

Date: July 11, 2002

Source: News Room

The EPA has filed a lawsuit against the city of Denver, Waste Management and several other firms, saying the parties owe more than $12 million for cleanup costs associated with an Arapahoe County Superfund site. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, involves the Lowry Landfill, a former industrial and municipal landfill that contains a toxic stew of solvents, waste oils, sewage sludge, hospital wastes and other hazardous throwaways. The complaint alleges that the federal Environmental Protection Agency spent millions of dollars on various cleanup steps at the site, including studying the extent of underground contamination. While Denver and Waste Management, which both operated the site in past decades, agree they owe some money, they argue that EPA hasn't justified the $12.3 million in costs cited in the suit. The EPA has already collected about $22 million from several companies for cleanup costs at Lowry. But the agency says it is owed additional money for work dating to the early 1980s. Also named in the suit are Chemical Waste Management Inc.; Adolph Coors Co.; Conoco Inc.; the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District; Roche Colorado Corp. and S.W. Shattuck Chemical Co. Inc.

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