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Federal Facility Response Awards Underground Storage Tanks Awards Superfund Awards Emergency Management Awards Regional Science Awards Environmental Justice Superfund Enforcement Awards RCRA Corrective Action Awards Resource Conservation Challenge Awards Cross-Program Revitalization Awards Brownfields
United States Environmental Protection Agency

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2005 National Notable Achievement Awards
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Superfund Enforcement Award Recipients

Legal Enforcer of the Year
John Kilborn, Region 1

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John Kilborn has combined innovative, consensus-building approaches, including a variety of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approaches, with traditional enforcement tools to significantly increase national and regional redevelopment of contaminated sites. While carrying a very heavy caseload, he also served as an acting team leader in the Superfund Legal Office, advising the four attorneys on his team on their cases. He advised the Superfund Program on two important emerging areas: response actions for vapor intrusion and sampling for 1,4-dioxane in drinking water. The sheer number, complexity, and diversity of cases he has ably handled is impressive. Examples are the Raymark and GE-Pittsfield sites. These cases are among the most complicated and time-consuming in the region.

At the Raymark site, which encompasses much of the town of Stratford, CT, John’s use of ADR to resolve litigation over access at the site failed initially to reach a settlement but laid the groundwork for a settlement once litigation had been filed. John’s extensive involvement with a citizen advisory committee at Raymark demonstrated his effective communications skills. He answered the committee’s longstanding questions about the upcoming remedy for asbestos-contaminated fill that is present on residences and businesses throughout Stratford. He also provided the information on liability and applicable and relevant and appropriate regulations that the committee felt was crucial to their deliberations.

When the model deed restrictions at the GE-Pittsfield site proved too inflexible to permit redevelopment, John brought his considerable real estate and redevelopment expertise into play and fashioned restrictions that were stringent enough to protect human health and the environment and flexible enough to respond to developers’ needs. His actions removed a key barrier to the future transfer of the GE property to the Pittsfield Redevelopment Authority.

In response to a citizens group’s inability to get their municipality to convert old railroad tracks to bicycle paths due to potential federal environmental liability, John fashioned a comfort letter (the first of this kind in the nation) that allowed the project to proceed provided the state oversaw any needed investigation and cleanup of the rail beds.


Technical Enforcer of the Year
Carlyn Prisk, Region 3

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Carlyn Prisk has provided enforcement support to the Superfund Program for more than six years. As a Civil Investigator, Carlyn performs all aspects of the enforcement process, from Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) investigations, to writing referrals, to negotiating RD/RA settlements with Fortune 500 companies. In addition, Carlyn performs ability to pay (ATP) evaluations of PRPs at Superfund sites. Currently she provides enforcement support at 10 Superfund sites. Many of these have over 100 PRPs, and several involve very complicated legal theories. She is also the Region 3 Superfund bankruptcy expert and is known nationally as the region’s “go to” person regarding any bankruptcy matters.

During FY 2004, Carlyn conducted ATP evaluations at several Superfund sites. At the AIW Frank Site, Carlyn investigated the PRP’s finances and determined that large sums of money were being spent on gambling. After one meeting with the PRP, the region received an offer for $1 million dollars. At two other Superfund Sites, the Assistant United States Attorney believed the PRP would not be able to pay any amount of a judgement against him. Carlyn conducted an investigation and found the individual was fraudulently transferring assets to a trust. Today, the region has an agreement in principle for $110,000 with this PRP.

At the Maryland Sand & Gravel Site, Carlyn was assigned to an ongoing PRP search. Within a few months, she was able to singlehandedly issue special notice letters as well as provide a pre-referral negotiation package to the Office of Regional Counsel which detailed the liability of close to 100 PRPs. She negotiated a Consent Decree with 45 major PRPs at the site that included agreement to perform over $20 million in work. Carlyn’s PRP efforts at this site allowed EPA to recover over 97 percent of its costs. Because of these skills, Carlyn is often sought after for her opinion by the Office of Regional Counsel in complicated corporate history cases.

Because of the high volume of bankruptcy notices Region 3 receives, Carlyn developed a database that tracks these notices as well as all determinations made by Region 3. In addition, she has created official procedures for all divisions in Region 3 for handling notices of bankrupt parties. These procedures have ensured that Region 3 does not miss any bar dates or other such deadlines, maximizing the region’s cost recovery position in bankruptcy cases.


Financial Management Team of the Year
Special Accounts Management Team, Region 3
Laura Janson, Barbara Borden, Linda Baric, Leslie Vassallo, Millie DeLeon-Ramos, and Robin Faux

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Special accounts are sub-accounts within the Trust Fund which contain money to be used at particular sites. A team comprised of finance and program staff was convened to analyze each special account in the region. To properly analyze the accounts, a discussion with the Remedial Project Manager (RPM) and attorney for each site was needed. Topics of concern included the terms of the agreement that achieved the special account to establish what the special account money could or could not be used for, current or future work at the site that EPA may have to perform, and documentation of the proper future use of the special account.

The results of the analysis and decisions that followed were documented in a comprehensive site-by-site report and summary chart which categorized site special accounts according to whether they are earmarked for disbursement, draw down, reclassification, or are being held for the future. The report revealed that special accounts at 24 of 32 sites could be drawn down immediately or in the near future. The payroll benefit was estimated to be about $982,000 or an equivalent of about 8 FTE (based on what was charged to those sites in the prior year). Also there are a number of accounts that can be drawn down for RI/FS or remedial contracts.

The team also provided training for RPMs, community involvement specialists, technical support staff, civil investigators, and others in how to set up reimbursable authority, how to budget for the various actions which will occur at the site, how to charge contracts to the special account, and how to charge time to the special account in People Plus.

The Region 3 team is commended for its efforts in thoroughly analyzing and bringing under control the management of its $54 million worth (current balance) of special accounts and for developing procedures for ongoing use of special accounts, which can be shared with other regions who face similar challenges.


Enforcement Team of the Year
Tennessee Products Site Team, Region 4
Nestor Young, Janice Thomas, William Sapp, and Stacey Haire (Department of Justice: Cheryl Smout and Kent Mayo)

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The Tennessee Products Superfund Site is a 2.5 mile section of Chattanooga Creek that has received discharges from several industrial facilities since the early 1900’s. Over the decades the sediments blanketing the Creek bottom and banks have become entrained with contaminants leaving them a pitch black color with the consistency of roofing tar. In addition, the creek area is home to low-income minority residents. With the PRPs fighting efforts to compel them to address the contamination, EPA performed a $16.7 million removal action in 1997-98 on the first mile of the creek, which was the most accessible to residents.

Tasks remaining after the removal were: recover the past costs; draft a ROD for the remaining 1.5 miles of the creek; and get the PRPs to do the cleanup. The PRPs wanted no part in any cleanup of the site and were openly hostile to each other. When EPA finalized the ROD in 2002, cleanup of the rest of the creek became intertwined with earlier negotiations over the past costs of the removal. Although this dramatically added to the complexity of the talks, it also set the stage for ultimate resolution to the case.

The Tennessee Products Site Team followed with a series of meetings with individual parties who presented their cases to each other, supported by expert witnesses. The next step was final negotiations on the removal allocation and the cleanup of the remaining portion of the Creek. Dave Batson of EPA’s Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center was recruited by the team to mediate the talks, resulting in an agreement among PRPs. Under the Consent Decree, the PRPs have committed to completely finance and perform the remedy, valued at $13.7 million. The PRPs will also reimburse EPA $9.3 million for its past response costs.

The Team’s commitment to cleaning up Chattanooga Creek has lead other local and federal agencies to devote resources to the economic redevelopment of the area surrounding the site. As part of an overall $30 million HUD grant, a public housing project was razed and a new mixed income single family home project has been constructed in its place. EPA awarded the City of Chattanooga $100,000 Superfund Redevelopment Grant to produce a plan for the future redevelopment of the area. Chattanooga, in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, designed a parks and greenway system along three miles of the creek. EPA designated the site as an Environmental Justice site and awarded over $380,000 in grants to various community groups for education and outreach.

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Page Last Modified: May 17, 2005