Contact: Matt Stout FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(202) 482-6090 11/30/95
Two private companies, Simpson Tacoma Kraft Co. and Champion International Corp., will pay to restore natural resources in Tacoma's Commencement Bay, under an agreement filed today in federal court. The action was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of the Interior under authorities granted through the Superfund Act.
Injuries to natural resources were caused by 60 years of contamination from commercial and industrial sites on the Bay, including runoff and wastewater from facilities such as the Simpson Tacoma Kraft Mill.
Under the agreement, Simpson Tacoma Kraft Co. and Champion International Corp. will pay for most of the costs associated with a tideflats habitat restoration project that was developed cooperatively with the trustees. This habitat restoration will benefit marine fish, salmon and birds. The total value of the settlement is estimated to be approximately $1 million.
"This settlement demonstrates the cooperation that can be achieved under existing laws designed to restore natural resources harmed by the release of hazardous materials," said NOAA Deputy Administrator Douglas K. Hall. "Reforms of the Superfund Act currently being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives could undermine this fair and effective approach to restoration of the nationžs coastal natural resources."
"This agreement represents a significant step in our ongoing effort to restore Commencement Bay," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. "However, this kind of settlement to restore an ecosystem could become a thing of the past if some of the proposals Congress is putting forward to change Superfund are enacted."
Stewardship of the nationžs natural resources is shared among several federal agencies, states and tribal trustees. Under the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (more commonly known as the Superfund Act), Congress directed the Secretary of Commerce to assess and recover damages for injuries to the nationžs coastal and marine natural resources from releases of oil and other hazardous substances. The Commerce Secretary has delegated this responsibility to NOAA.
As currently drafted, "The Reform of Superfund Act of 1995" will preclude any restoration at many massively contaminated waste sites and severely curtail meaningful restoration at others. Additionally, it could bog down restoration efforts nationwide by producing an expensive, burdensome, litigation-oriented process that will delay or prevent what little restoration may be permitted.
Part of a bay-wide plan to restore intertidal and upland habitat, Simpson has provided a piece of property for the project that will re-establish over three acres of intertidal, salt marsh and riparian habitat along the eastern shoreway of the Middle Waterway, and provide protection for an additional 1.7 acres of undisturbed intertidal habitat on one of the few remaining original mudflats in Commencement Bay. The mudflats and marsh will provide habitat and important food sources for young marine fish, migrating salmonids and birds. Simpson is responsible for project construction, monitoring and maintenance.
The proposed agreement builds on a 1991 agreement between the companies responsible for the environmental damage, EPA, the Washington State Departments of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources, the Department of the Interior, NOAA, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.
The 1991 agreement resolved Simpson and Championžs natural resource damage liability in the St. Paul Waterway, one part of the Commencement Bay site, and was the first natural resource damage settlement in the Pacific Northwest and the first nationwide to be reached without litigation. This latest settlement resolves the companies' liability for damages to natural resources in the remainder of Commencement Bay.