U.S. E.P.A. Finds Petaluma, Calif., Superfund Location Clean

Former Sola Optical USA, Incorporated facility removed from list of nation's worst toxic sites

SAN FRANCISCO - The E.P.A. today declares it has deleted the Sola Optical USA, Incorporated location in Petaluma, Calif., from the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).

Between 1978 and 2001, Sola Optical USA, Incorporated owned and operated an optical lens manufacturing facility at the location in Petaluma, California As a result of Sola Optical's manufacturing processes, chlorinated solvents and other chemicals were released into the soil and groundwater. Sola Optical ceased its operations at the location and sold the facility buildings in 2001. The buildings have since been reused by other commercial tenants.

"The cleanup of this location is an example of how state, local, and federal environmental regulators can work together with a responsible party to address contamination and safeguard local water supplies," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "EPA is known for adding sites to the Superfund list, but our ultimate goal is to clean them up so that we can take them off the list."

Under the oversight of E.P.A. and California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Sola Optical completed an investigation and initial soil removal, and in 1991, E.P.A. issued a final cleanup project to remove the contamination from the groundwater and to prevent a nearby City of Petaluma well from being contaminated. In 2012, the groundwater was found to meet cleanup goals, and monitoring data showed the location no longer posed a current or future threat to human health and the environment.

Deleting Sola Optical from the NPL will conclude a 30-year federal and state investigation and cleanup. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board 1st ordered investigations in 1983, and the location was placed on the federal Superfund list in 1990.

The final deletion notice can be found here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-10-31/pdf/2013-25987.pdf

For more information on the Sola Optical site, visit: www.epa.gov/region09/solaoptical

For more information on EPA's Superfund cleanup program, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region9/superfund/

There are currently no comments for this story. Be the first to add a comment!
Click here to add a comment about this story.