TEP Reaches Agreement Regarding Historic Landfill Cleanup

Tucson Electric Power has reached an agreement with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) related to a cleanup of hazardous substances found at a closed city landfill on Tucson's east side.

As noted in a Feb. 12 filing from the Arizona Attorney General’s office, TEP was among many parties identified as potentially responsible for some portion of the cost of cleaning up hazardous substances found at the Broadway North Landfill.

Hundreds of potentially responsible parties who used the landfill from 1953 until its closure in 1972, including local jurisdictions and other small and large commercial companies in the Tucson area, have faced possible liability for cleanup costs. A number of other parties reached settlement years ago.

There is no allegation or evidence that TEP was ever involved in illegal dumping at this site. Our company purchased property in the area, including portions of the landfill, in 1964 for use as a substation.  That landfill has since been identified by ADEQ as the source for hazardous materials, but there is no allegation that those chemicals were disposed of on TEP’s property or used as part of TEP’s substation operations.

State law provides that property owners can bear legal responsibility when such issues are discovered later, even if they were in no way involved in creating the problem. TEP has been collaborating with ADEQ and the Attorney General's office for several years toward a consent decree that will resolve this matter, and the Feb. 12 filing was a necessary step toward that resolution.

The consent decree will resolve this decades-old issue for TEP for a nominal amount that will not be recovered from customers through rates. The amount will become public when the consent decree is filed, which is expected soon.