# ONALASKA, TOWN OF
> **Judicial** · FY1987 · — · Final Order With Specified Cost Recovery
## Case
- **Activity ID:** `26423`
- **Case Number:** 05-1987-0185
- **Type:** Judicial
- **Lead:** EPA
- **Outcome:** Final Order With Specified Cost Recovery
- **Penalty assessed:** —
- **Cost recovery:** $483K
- **Compliance action $:** —
- **Multimedia (multi-env):** N
## Defendants
- ONALASKA, TOWN OF (complaint) (settlement)
## Summary

THE TOWN OF ONALASKA (TOWNSHIP) OWNED AND OPERATED AND  ELEVEN-ACRE LANDFILL (AKA BRICE PRAIRIE LAND & LYTLES DUMP)  IN LA CROSSE COUNTY, WI. FROM 1969 TO 1980.  THE SITE IS AN  MPL AND WITHIN 500 FEET OF THE BLACK RIVER, NEAR WHERE IT    MEETS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.  THE LANDFILL ACCPTED RESIDEN-  TIAL, COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL WASTES.  THE SITE OPERATORS  BURIED VARIOUS LABORATORY SOLVENTS FROM 1971 TO 1974 AND     SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES OF NAPHTHA AND PTL-1009, A SYNTHETIC  LUBRICANT, FROM 1975 TO 1978.  THE EQUIVALENT OF 2,500 DRUMS OF SOLVENT WASTES ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE BEEN DISPOSED OF ON  SITE.  ALTHOUGH THE LANDFILL WAS COVERED IN 1982, WASTE      PRODUCTS ARE LEACHING THROUGH THE HIGHLY PERMEABLE SOIL IN   THE AREA.  SAMPLING BY THE WISCONSIN DNR HAS ESTABLISHED     THAT GROUNDWATER AND A PRIVATE WELL ARE CONTAMINATED WITH    VARIOUS ORGANIC  COMPOUNDS.  THE DNR ORDERED THE CLOSE OF    THE LANDFILL IN 1980 DUE TO DOWN GRADIENT GROUNDWATER CON-   TAMINATION.  A LOCAL CITIZEN SUED THE TOWNSHIP FOR CONTAMIN- ATION OF HIS HOME WELL WHICH WAS LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE     ONALASKA LANDFILL.  THE LAWSUIT WAS FILED AGAINST THE TOWN-  SHIP, OUTERS LABORATORIES, AND METALLICS, THE KNOWN WASTE    CONTRIBUTORS.  THE CASE WAS SETTLED AND THE TOWNSHIP AGREED  TO DRILL A NEW WELL.  THE CITIZEN HAS SINCE LEFT THE AREA.   THE CONTAMINANT BARIUM, FOUND IN THE PRIVATE WELL WATER, WAS AN ISSUE IN THE LITIGATION BUT ITS SOURCE HAS NEVER BEEN     PINPOINTED.  A PRP SEARCH HAS BEEN COMPLE

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