On August 20, 2012, EPA signed an administrative settlement agreement pursuant to Section 122(h) of CERCLA for recovery of past response costs concerning the Site. The Agreement is with the Bank, which holds security interests on the Site property. The Site is not on the NPL.
In order to resolve the competing liens of EPA, the Bank, the City of Cortland and the County of Cortland on the Properties, the settlement provides that the Bank will attempt to sell the Properties as part of the BankÂs pending foreclosure action. Pursuant to the Agreement, EPA will receive a share of the proceeds from the foreclosure sale after certain distributions are made to the City and the County based on their respective tax liens, portions of which are arguably superior to EPAÂs lien, and after the Bank is paid $150,000 attributable to the costs of marketing and selling the Properties. Any proceeds from the BankÂs foreclosure sale remaining after the payments to the Bank, the City and the County, shall be distributed to EPA, the Bank and the City in proportion to their liens. In exchange, EPA will release its CERCLA Section 107(l) lien and waive any windfall lien it may have under CERCLA Section 107(r), thus eliminating the one-year right of redemption pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 2410(c) that would otherwise be applicable if EPAÂs lien were to be foreclosed.
On June 6, 2012, the City signed an Agreement with EPA in an effort to facilitate the foreclosure, sale, and redevelopme