HAZARDOUS SITES CLEAN-UP

 UNDER THE ACT OF 

OCTOBER 18, 1988

PUBLIC NOTICE OF 

PROPOSED CONSENT ORDER AND AGREEMENT

 

Hoff VC HSCA Site, 

New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, PA

 

The Department of Environmental Protection ("Department"), under the authority of the Pennsylvania Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act ("HSCA"), 35 P.S. § 6020.1113, has entered into a Consent Decree with Ethan Good, the Green Lane Trust, Good Oil Company and Shady Lane Estates, Ltd. ("the Good Parties"). The Consent Decree will resolve the Department's response cost recovery claims related to its remediation of hazardous substances which have impacted the Hoff VC HSCA Site ("the Site"). The Site includes residential and commercial properties located in the area of Hoffmansville Road, and Layfield Road in New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, PA. 

 

During the 1970's and 1980's, Swann Oil Company ("Swann Oil") used the property located at 334 Layfield Road in New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, PA, for the retail distribution of heating oil ("the Property"). The Property is located in the Site. While operating the Property, Swann Oil used chlorinated solvents to clean its trucks. In 1991, Shady Lane Estates, Ltd., a business owned and managed by Mr. Ethan Good, purchased the Property. Good Oil Co., another company owned and operated by Mr. Good, leased the Property from Shady Lane Estates, Ltd. and operated an onsite retail fuel delivery business until sometime in 1998. In 2010, Shady Lane Estates, Ltd. transferred the Property to the Green Lane Trust, which is a bona fide family trust administered by Mr. Good. 

 

In 2012, the Department investigated the Property as well as nearby residential and commercial wells. Samples of the wells on and in the vicinity of the Property had levels of volatile organic compounds ("VOCs") in amounts which exceeded the 2 Maximum Contaminant Levels for safe drinking water established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 300f et seq. The Department's samples of surface water, including an unnamed tributary to Swamp Creek, which traverses the Property, also had VOC contamination. The Department has determined that the Property is a source of hazardous substance contamination impacting the Site. 

 

The past and present conditions on the Property and the Site constitute a "release" of hazardous substances as defined in Section 103 of HSCA, 35 P.S. § 6020.103. The prior historic releases during the Swann Oil Co.'s ownership and the potential ongoing release and threatened release of hazardous substances during the Good Parties' respective ownership and operation of the Property, caused the Department to incur "response costs" as this term is defined in Section 103 of HSCA, 35 P.S. § 6020.103. 

 

The Department's response actions included the construction of a public waterline to connect impacted residents to a potable water supply as well as other investigative and remedial measures to abate the release and threatened release of hazardous substances in the Site area. The Department incurred Two Million, Two Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand, and Nineteen Dollars and Nine Cents ($2,275,019.09) in response costs for the installation of the public waterline. The Department will incur additional response costs to remove and remediate hazardous substances which remain on Property. 

 

To resolve the Department's claim for response costs, the Good Parties agreed to the Court's entry of a judgment against them in the amount of Two Million, Two Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand, and Nineteen Dollars and Nine Cents ($2,275,019.09). The Good Parties agreed to secure this debt by granting the Department a first mortgage lien on the Property and they agreed to obtain additional property and general liability insurance coverage for the Property. The Department and the Good Parties memorialized their agreement in the form of a Consent Decree including standard terms and conditions common to all Department Consent Orders and Agreements.

 

This notice is provided under Section 1113 of HSCA, 35 P.S. § 6020.1113, which states that, "settlement shall become final upon the filing of the Department's response to significant written comments". The Consent Decree, which contains the specific terms of the agreement is available for public review and comment. The agreement can be examined from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Department's Southeast Regional Office, located at 2 East Main Street in Norristown, PA 19401, by contacting either Colin Wade (484) 250-5722 or Gina M. Thomas, Esquire at (484) 250-5930. Mr. Wade and Ms. Thomas may also be contacted electronically at cowade@pa.gov and githomas@pa.gov , respectively. A public comment period on the Consent Order and Agreement will extend for 60 days from today's date. Persons may submit written comments regarding the agreement within 60 days from today's date, by submitting them to Mr. Wade at the above address.