32 companies, Terre Haute to pay for waste cleanup

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Federal regulators are billing 32 private companies and Terre Haute for most of the cost of cleaning up a hazardous waste disposal site.

The Tribune-Star reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the companies and Terre Haute will foot about $1.1 million of the $1.5 million spent cleaning up the former Wabash Environmental Technologies site.

The Terre Haute Board of Public Works and Safety agreed Monday to pay the city’s $20,000 share after the city’s attorney warned that failing to do so could lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation costs.

State and federal officials shuttered the site in December 2004, charging that the company didn’t comply with environmental laws. The EPA said the site contained laboratory chemicals, waste oil and drums leaking various substances.