Use of the Pesticide Intermediate Benzene Hexachloride as a Tracer to Determine Liability

Abstract

Solvent alleged that chlorinated benzene contamination detected in Solvent's offsite groundwater recovery wells was 98% due to releases from the neighboring Olin chlorobenzene production facility and only 2% due to Solvent's nearby chlorinated benzene production facility. However, Solvent's position was complicated by the fact that it had acknowledged that its operations had impacted site contamination levels. Solvent's position was that the onsite contamination was partially due to Olin, but it faced an uphill struggle because the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) had assigned Solvent responsibility for the Hot Spot cleanup at the Olin site. However, Solvent was able to recover virtually the entire amount of its Hot Spot costs attributable to chlorinated benzenes from Olin, as well as the full percentage of allocation they requested from Olin for the Solvent site through the useof chemical tracers such as benzene hexachloride (BHC).