In November, the EPA ordered Montrose Chemical Corp., Ecology Control Ind. and Ronald Flurry to remove up to 5,000 tons of excavated DDT-contaminated soil piles from the ECI property in Torrance. The estimated cost of disposal is $1.6 million. The soil piles, located at an industrial property several blocks from the Montrose Plant Property, were created when the landowner was conducting environmental assessment activities in preparation for a potential property sale last year.

“The agency issued the order to prevent DDT contaminated soil from blowing into the air or washing into storm drains,” said Keith Takata, director of the EPA's Superfund Division in the Pacific Southwest region. “The EPA is pleased that the responsible companies have stepped up to the plate and that work is underway.”

The DDT-contaminated soil is being transported in covered truck containers to the U.S. Ecology-regulated hazardous waste landfill in Beatty, Nev.

Montrose Chemical Corp. of California manufactured DDT from 1947 until 1982 at a plant near the city of Torrance. The 13-acre former plant property located in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles was named a federal Superfund site in 1989. The EPA believes that DDT was released into storm drains in the 1950s through the 1980s.