EPA Record of Decision: Site History & Enforcement Activities

This EPA document from 2009 summarizes the origins of environmental risk at the Omaha Lead Site and describes subsequent efforts to hold responsible parties to account.

As previously detailed, the EPA pinpointed the ASARCO facility located at 500 Douglas Street from the early 1870s-1997 as a major source of lead contamination in the Omaha Lead Site. The Aaron Ferer lead smelter and lead battery recycling, later operated by Gould, was also identified as a major source of lead pollution. Based on evidence of lead pollution in these companies' operations, the EPA attempted enforcement actions to hold the companies in compliance with CERCLA regulations.

In response to the high levels of lead found in the blood of children living in the area, for instance, the EPA required ASARCO to perform soil removal at child-care centers and residencies in the contaminated area. ASARCO refused, even after the issue of an Administrative Order. The EPA took action on its own but continued to try to hold ASARCO responsible for their actions, as well as other potentially responsible parties: Union Pacific and Gould Electronics, Inc. In most cases, these parties refused to cooperate with the EPA. The EPA’s remediation of the Omaha Lead Site depended upon money from Superfund, rather than from the responsible parties.

This document is significant for multiple reasons. First, it gives specific evidence and justification about why the EPA chose the potentially responsible parties that they did, and gives a better idea about what actions they pursue. Additionally, this documentation shows that in the initial stages of the EPA’s work in the Omaha Lead Site ASARCO refused to cooperate with the EPA and did not take part in or pay for remedial actions in Omaha. This gives further context to the EPA’s actions going forward from the initial stages.

Additionally, the actions taken – or more correctly, actions not taken – by ASARCO and the other responsible parties reveal extensive environmental justice implications for the Omaha Lead Site. The actions that ASARCO refused to take were time-sensitive remediation actions to protect children, the group most vulnerable to harms from lead poisoning.[1]By avoiding responsibility for their actions, ASARCO likely caused more harm to Omaha children and forced American taxpayers to subsidize the remediation of their toxic pollution. The evasive actions taken by the potentially responsible parties, as seen in this case, are not an isolated occurrence, and it speaks volumes about the accountability polluters have for their damages to the environment.

As further artifacts will show, the EPA uses the courts to hold parties responsible when they will not cooperate. However, this strategy takes years and requires a great deal of legal expenses. If the story of the Omaha Lead Site shows anything, it shows that it is necessary to have stronger, more effective programs for holding responsible parties accountable for their pollution. These stronger programs are essential for the swift and adequate provision of environmental justice in the face of largescale pollution.

[1] Fredrickson, Leif. 2017. “The Age of Lead: Metropolitan Change, Environmental Health, and Inner City Underdevelopment in Baltimore.” University of Virginia.