# MULTI-CHEM, INC., KEITH FARM POND
> **Judicial** · FY1984 · — · Litigated With Specified Cost Recovery
## Case
- **Activity ID:** `20194`
- **Case Number:** 04-1984-0007
- **Type:** Judicial
- **Lead:** EPA
- **Outcome:** Litigated With Specified Cost Recovery
- **Penalty assessed:** —
- **Cost recovery:** $473K
- **Compliance action $:** —
- **Multimedia (multi-env):** N
## Defendants
- MULTI-CHEM (complaint) (settlement)
## Summary

NATURE OF THE CASE:  IN MARCH 1983 EPA REGION IV WAS CON-  TACTED BY THE KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (KY-  DNR) REGARDING POTENTIAL CONTAMINATION OF THE LOST RIVER     CAVE SYSTEM IN BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY. THE SUSPECTED CON-   TAMINANTS WERE VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS. ON MARCH 30, 1983 IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FROM KY-DNR, THE EPA TECHNICAL AS-  SISTANCE TEAM (TAT) ARRIVED IN BOWLING GREEN TO INVESTIGATE  AND SAMPLE THE CAVE CONTAMINATION. AT THE SAME TIME, TAT AND KY-DNR REPRESENATIVES INVESTIGATED THE J.L. KEITH FARM POND  IN BOWLING GREEN. A DUCK KILL ON THE POND HAD OCCURRED IN    MAY 1982 AND CONTAMINANTS WERE BELIEVED TO BE PRESENT SIMU-  LAR TO THOSE FOUND IN THE LOST RIVER CAVE SYSTEM.              IN THE COURSE OF INVESTIGATING THE POND, THREE INDUSTRIAL  ACTIVITIES WERE FOUND IN THE VICINITY: MULTI-CHEM, INC., A   CHEMICAL REPACKAGING PLANT, FMC CORP., A HEAVY EQUIPMENT     MANUFACTURER, AND WARNCO, AN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS COMPANY.  DUE TO THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE MATERIALS HANDLED BY       MULTI-CHEM AND THE CONTAMINANTS FOUND IN THE POND, IN SEP-   TEMBER 1982 THE STATE OF KENTUCKY REQUESTED MULTI-CHEM TO    PRESSURE-TEST ITS UNDERGROUND TANKS. NONE OF THE 18 UNDER-   GROUND TANKS WERE FOUND TO BE LEAKING.                         FOLLOWING CONTINUED ODOR COMPLAINTS BY THE KEITHS IN FEB-  RUARY 1983, THE KY-DNR SAMPLED THE POND AGAIN AND FOUND HIGH LEVELS OF VARIOUS VOLATILE CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS. BASED   UPON THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF CONTAM

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*Source: [EPA ECHO](https://echo.epa.gov/) · AI Analytics · CC0 1.0*