FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENRD

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

EPEC Polymers Agrees to Settlement

Worth $23.4 Million
to Clean Up Texas Superfund Site
WASHINGTON - EPEC Polymers Inc., headquartered in Houston, has reached a
settlement worth an estimated $23.4 million regarding the Petro-Chemical Systems
Inc. Superfund Site in Liberty County, Texas, the Justice Department and
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The company will perform investigation and cleanup work estimated to cost $13.4
million at as part of a settlement lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Texas. In addition, EPEC will reimburse EPA for $6.9 million of
its past costs and approximately $3.1 million for costs incurred after July 31, 2004.
A portion of the payments will be used to fund EPA's oversight of cleanup activity
at the site, which is also known as the “Turtle Bayou Site.” The balance will be paid
into the Superfund, a revolving fund established by Congress and used to pay for
cleanups at such sites.

The Justice Department sued EPEC in 2002 to secure cleanup work and recover
costs on behalf of EPA under the Comprehensive Environmental Response
Compensation and Liability Act. EPEC’s corporate predecessor, Tenneco
Chemicals, disposed of wastes at the site that were generated from its vinyl chloride
monomer facility in Pasadena, Texas. The United States had filed an earlier lawsuit
in 1994 in connection with the same site against other parties including Atlantic
Richfield Company (ARCO) and ARCO Chemical Company (ACC). That earlier
suit was resolved in 1998 by a settlement that required those companies to perform
substantial cleanup work. The agreement reached today with EPEC requires the
cleanup of virtually all the remaining contamination at the site.

“Vigorous enforcement of the Superfund program should secure the performance of

work by responsible parties and reimbursement of cleanup costs expended by the
EPA. That is exactly what this settlement accomplishes,” said Matthew J.
McKeown, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s
Environmental and Natural Resources Division. “This agreement takes an important
step towards completing the cleanup of this longstanding Superfund Site.”
"EPA vigorously pursues those that contaminate our environment," said Granta
Nakayama, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance. "This shows that EPA will make sure that the polluter pays
for Superfund site cleanups."

"The Environmental Protection Agency will continue to vigorously enforce our

nation's environmental laws," said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene.
"Our enforcement staff works very closely and effectively with the Department of
Justice to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment."

The site is located approximately 15 miles southeast of the city of Liberty and sixty-
five miles northeast of Houston. Land use in the area near the Turtle Bayou site is
divided among crop-land, pasture, range, forest, and small rural communities. In the
late 1960s, the past owners of the Turtle Bayou Site, Donald R. Lang and Wallis W.
Smith, allowed waste transport companies to use the Turtle Bayou Site for illegal
disposal of wastes until about 1979.

EPA and the state of Texas’ response actions at the site included cleanup of
contamination from 1987 until 1988 along the then unpaved Frontier Park Road
which runs through the site. This work included excavation and on-site containment
of 5900 cubic yards of highly contaminated soil. In 1998, EPA selected cleanup
remedies for the other areas of known contamination at the site. Some of those
remedies were performed by ARCO and ACC under the 1998 consent decree. The
major components of the remedy for contaminated soil were soil vapor extraction,
catalytic thermal destruction of the extracted vapor, and groundwater sparging.
When all work is completed and costs fully reimbursed, the total expenditures for
the Turtle Bayou Site are likely to exceed $59 million.

The proposed consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final
court approval and will be available on the Justice Department Web site at
http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

###

07-170