THE OMEGA CHEMICAL CORPORATION FACILITY ( WHIITER SITE ) IS LOCATED IN WHITTER, CALIFORNIA. THIS SITE IS A FORMER CHLOROFLUROCARBON ( CFCS ) RECYCLING OPERATION THAT WAS OPERATED BY DENNIS O'MEARA AND THE OMEGA CHEMICAL CORPORATION ( OCC ). EPA HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE WHITTIER FACILITY SINCE JANUARY 1995, WHEN AN EPA CONTRACTOR CONDUCTED A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE WHITTER SITE AND OBSERVED APPROXIMATELY 3,000+ DRUMS, CONTAINING VARIOUS STAGES OF DETERIORATION, MANY OF WHICH WERE LEAKING. OCC'S CONTRACTOR HAD PERFORMED SOIL SAMPLING AT THE WHITTER SITE IN 1988, THE RESULT OF WHICH REVEALED THE PRESENCE OF NUMEROUS HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN THE SUBSURFACE AND GROUNDWATER AT THE WHITTIER SITE, INCLUDING METHYLENE CHLORIDE, TETRACHLOROETHYLENE, AND TRICHLOROETHYLENE. EPA SUBSEQUENTLY ISSUING A UNILATERAL ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER ( UAO ) TO APPROXIMATELY 170 RESPONDENTS. ONE OF THE PARTIES NAMED AS RESPONDENT TO THE UAO WAS CENTURY LAMINATORS, INC. ( CL ). ON MAY 31, 1995, CL RESPONDED TO THE UAO, AND NOTIFIED EPA (FOR THE FIRST TIME DIRECTLY) THAT IT WAS IN BANKRUPTCY, THAT A REORGANIZATION PLAN WAS IN EFFECT (AND WOULD BE FOR SIX YEARS FROM ITS CONFIRMATION DATE), AND THAT THE STATE AND ANY OF THE PRPS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO CLAIM AN AMOUNT IN THE RESTRUCTURIN