PRP Searches and Cost Allocation

     Under CERCLA, TechLaw has provided research support in defining the extent of responsibility or allocation of costs for over 1,500 hazardous waste sites, including private and municipal landfills, manufacturing and recycling facilities, waste transfer stations, and large area or sediment contamination sites. We have addressed the myriad issues typically found in these cases, including different levels of documentation, consideration of waste types and mobility of chemicals, factual nexus, confidentiality, court-imposed deadlines, and evaluation of witness credibility.
     Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) searches provide a basis for understanding the enforcement framework and associated liability issues attached to an environmentally impaired property. They can be used to identify those responsible for site impact, determine allocation of costs and cost recovery, develop the site land use history, research corporate relationships, develop ownership and operations histories, and develop ability-to-pay scenarios. Information from a PRP search can be used to identify the different types of PRPs, including owners, operators, generators, and transporters, and to bring other parties to the table to help fund cleanups at Superfund sites.
     TechLaw's approach of using environmental scientists, historians, and environmental attorneys to conduct PRP projects provides a client with assurance that technical and legal issues are properly addressed, and that information is accurate.
     To fully develop the history of a site during the PRP search process, TechLaw undertakes a wide variety of research tasks. Following our standard PRP search operating procedures— while allowing for modification and innovation to the research process—enables us to maximize the information collected and conduct the research in a comprehensive and efficient manner. PRP Search tasks include the following:

Records Search
Interviews
Site Ownership/Title Search
Aerial Photograph Interpretation
Review of Technical Data
Enforcement and Operational Histories
Contract Analysis

Liability Analysis
Corporate and Financial Research
Cost Allocation Development
Graphics
Cost Evaluation
Record Compilation
Report Preparation

TechLaw has developed an advanced allocation database system that can be used to store, manipulate, and analyze a variety of relevant data such as material quantities, types, constituents, disposal, treatment, trans-shipment, or other types of dispositions. Use of the database system can expedite assessment of the impact of the broad range of allocation factors that must be considered as part of multi-party deliberations.

Projects

PRP Search and Cost Allocation under Contract to the USACE

TechLaw began conducting PRP searches and providing cost allocation support to USACE in August 1989. TechLaw has been a prime contractor in support of PRP search work for six USACE Districts, including Omaha, Sacramento, and New England. TechLaw has provided PRP search work as a subcontractor to the USACE in Kansas City, Omaha, Baltimore, and Tulsa. Under these contracts, TechLaw has received over 200 Delivery Orders to conduct site history research and liability analysis. The sites have ranged from an active manufacturing facility formerly owned by the Air Force and operated by a contractor, to a former WWII air training station converted to an industrial park.

Hudson Refinery Site, Cushing Oklahoma

TechLaw conducted an extensive PRP search on an inactive petroleum refinery in central Oklahoma. This company’s waste management practices over the years had resulted in impacts to soil, surface water, and groundwater. The project consisted of federal and state record collection, organization, and review, as well as a summary of operational and compliance data. It also involved the creation of a text-based database, 100-year title search, business status research, current location information research, development of profiles for each PRP, interviews with knowledgeable parties, and preparation and assembly of an extensive PRP report.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

TechLaw has conducted responsible party search (RPS) work for the Forest Service under three contracts, one each with the Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Intermountain Regions. These projects have primarily involved mining sites, focusing on record collection and corporate research. Owner and operator PRPs were identified, along with parties that have liability as corporate successors or parent corporations.

Malone Services Site, Texas City, Texas

TechLaw created a database of waste-in data for an inactive waste storage and disposal facility. The source of the information documenting deliveries of hazardous materials and wastes to the site included manifests, invoices, weight tickets, receipts, and other documents culled from hundreds of boxes obtained at the site and from federal and state regulatory agencies. Information entered into the database used for the compilation, organization, calculation, and presentation of the waste-in data initially included more than 160,000 documents culled from more than 500,000 pages of information. Subsequent iterations and additional manipulation of the information resulted in a waste-in list of 68,345 entries. Data were processed and compiled to show total amount of waste and contribution by each PRP in ranking order.

Star Lake Canal Site, Port Arthur, Texas

TechLaw conducted a PRP search along the entire length of two industrial canals. Industrial facilities along both of the canals, which discharged wastewater, included oil refineries, petrochemical plants, a wastewater treatment plant, a landfill, city facilities, a gas plant, and several tank farms. For each facility, TechLaw developed ownership and operational histories; reviewed federal, state, and local documents; developed enforcement histories; and conducted a site reconnaissance, including a series of location measurements using a hand-held GIS instrument in order to create a precise location map of the site. TechLaw compiled the information into reports that showed the ownership and operations of the canals, the bounding industrial facilities, and the links between them. The reports included large, colored, graphic maps of the entire site, which illustrated the geographic relationships between the different facilities and the canals.