1. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com1

2. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012My take-home message is contained within this slide: please remember that historians and otheroutside experts such as environmental scientists can be very valuable members of your legalteamespecially in those cases where you feel like the man in this slide.While my presentation focuses on the value that historians can bring to your legal team, what I say isalso applicable to other experts, who can also bring subject-level expertise and experience to yourlegal cases.Today, I will discuss three general topics: (1) Why use historians on soil and groundwatercontamination matters? (2) How can historians help to identify and characterize PRPs in suchmatters? and, (3) What sources do historians use to identify and characterize PRPs?In short, I want to discuss how historians can help you to find the proverbial needles in a haystack.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com2 3. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012A couple of years ago, a client and I were talking about this topic and he likened what historians do toturning over rocks in a quarry. As an attorney, the client knew (or at least hoped) that key recordsare out there somewhere, buried under one of those rocks in that quarry. But, while he couldprobably ascertain the relevance of a document if he happened to find it while randomly turning overrocks, the value that historians bring is that we know (or can figure out) which rocks to turn over.Put another way, professional historians have training and experience in thinking analytically aboutthe various moving parts of historythat is, we have the ability to identify not just what happened ata site but also the ability to identify the historical private or public entities that likely generated andmaintained records documenting past events of interest. As importantly, we also know where andhow to find these records today.In the context of soil and groundwater contamination matters, what historians can add to your legalteams is summarized on this slide. In brief, we can help you to identify and characterize PRPs to sitecontamination.With this information, attorneys can be in a more informed position to negotiate with other PRPs orregulatory agencies or to better allocate or apportion site cleanup costs.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com 3 4. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012When attorneys hire professional historians on soil or groundwater contamination matters, one of thefirst things we are typically asked to do is to find other PRPs who can join in the fun of sharingcleanup costs.Ideally, we do so in collaboration with environmental experts who are also working on the site. Forexample, if soil sampling yields a high presence of coal tar and PAHs, historians can use thisinformation to target our research for any historical industries that generated these byproducts, suchas wood preservers or manufactured gas plants.This slide lists some of the readily accessible sources that historians typically consult in identifyingPRPs in soil and groundwater contamination matters.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com4 5. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012In identifying PRPs, especially for complex sites with multiple PRPs operating over decades,historians start where most environmental attorneys would probably startby consulting availableSanborn fire insurance maps of the site.Im sure everyone is familiar with EDRs collection of Sanborn fire insurance maps and the ability toorder them from your desktop. These maps are great sources to identify historical owners ofindustrial sites. However, historians do not confine our cartographic research solely to Sanborns, ascity and county atlases, tax maps, real estate plat maps, and other cartographic sources can all beused to identify PRPs.Depending on the location of the site, historians search for these maps in various places, includingthe National Archives, Library of Congress, state and local libraries and archives, as well as localgovernment agencies such as the Planning Department, Surveyors Office, or Public WorksDepartment.The map in this slide is a detail of a World War II map of a California airport that I found at theNational Archives. It depicts the presence of a previously unknown (at least to the attorney I wasworking with) U.S. Army Dumping Station.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com 5 6. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012The next source I want to discuss are industrial directories. During the mid-20th century, many statespublished these directories (the ones on this slide are from Alabama and Ohio).The directories provide a pretty comprehensive list of all manufacturing companies located in eachstate and the products they manufactured. The directories are normally organized by county or cityand are cross-referenced by industry, making it easy to use them to get a list of companies andindustries that were in a given area at a given time.The challenge, though, can sometimes be finding complete runs of these directories. For example,the Alabama State Library does not have as complete a collection of Industrial Alabama as does theLibrary of Congress. Again, this is where professional historians can help to identify which of thoserocks in that quarry to turn over.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com6 7. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012A final source that I want to touch upon that can be used to identify PRPs is historical newspaperarticles, which can contain information on corporate transactions or descriptions of industrial plantsand processes.The challenge with such research, of course, is that, while the historical issues of many national andmajor regional newspapers have been digitized, most local newspapers are not full-text searchable.And, it is most often the local newspapers that provide the most useful information about localcompanies.When faced with such situations, historians know to use other methods to access these oldnewspapers, including review of newspaper clippings files, which are typically found at local librariesor historical societies and were created by the yeoman efforts of local librarians who literally clippedarticles out of newspapers and organized them into subject-specific vertical files.I found the local newspaper article shown in this slide in just such a clippings file. It turned out to bevery useful in a past case I worked on because it alerted the client to the existence of a previouslyunknown federal court case from the 1970s relating to the site we were researching. This turned outto be a useful lead, as I was able to use this information to obtain a copy of the historical case filefrom the regional National Archives facility.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com7 8. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012After asking environmental experts to help to identify the universe of PRPs to a soil or groundwater contaminationmatter, attorneys should next consider asking their outside experts to help to characterize each PRP. This involvesresearching each PRPs historical time on risk and current corporate viability. In other words, historians attempt todetermine for each PRP: How long was it at the site? Is it (or a viable successor) still in business today? What did thePRP do at the site? What were its manufacturing processes? What raw materials did it use? What were its productsand by-products? How did the PRP dispose of its waste?In researching these questions, historians can turn to any number of sources, depending on the type of PRP and thenature of the site contamination.Corporate HistoryFor example, attorneys often ask historians to research the corporate history of PRPs. At complex sites where siteoperations date back decades, this research often involves tracing a web of corporate mergers and acquisitions todetermine if there is a viable present-day successor to a now-defunct company. Historians search for corporate historyinformation in a variety of sources, including those listed on this slide. The most obvious and useful source is corporatefilings, such as 10-k official company reports to the SEC and company annual reports to shareholders. This informationcan be found within SEC records held by the SEC or National Archives, within state incorporation files, or at libraries orarchives across the country. As necessary, historians also look for corporate information within business directoriessuch as Moodys or trade literature sources.Operational HistoryA trickier question to research, though, is the operational history of companies. When attorneys ask historians to dothis, they typically want answers to questions such as: What did the PRP do at the site? What were its manufacturingprocesses? What raw materials did it use? How did it get these raw materials? What were its products and by-products? Who were the major customers? How did the PRP dispose of its waste?This slide lists some of the places historians look for this information; of course, the specific nature of the PRP willdetermine where historians will research. For example, if researching an old shipyard, historians may look at historicalfederal records from the Navy, Maritime Commission, Shipping Board, or Emergency Fleet Corporation, as well asstate and local records.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com8 9. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012What if you suspect that the federal government may be a PRP at an industrial site under CERCLA, either asa historical owner, operator, or arranger? With apologies to Ken and other government attorneys here today,this is a somewhat enviable situation (at least for historians), simply because of the shear volume of survivingfederal government records and the concomitant likelihood that useful records can be found.In researching whether the government could be a historical owner of an industrial site, historians look forinformation concerning whether the government actually owned: Real property ( either encompassing an entire site or a portion of it) Manufacturing facilities (entire buildings or individual production units) Equipment and Tools (particularly those directly linked to production processes) Title to raw materials, products, by-products, etc.In doing so, historians typically review federal government records, often at the National Archives and otherfederal records repositories. For example, within records at the National Archives, you can find lists of WorldWar II-era GOCO (government owned-, contractor-operated) facilities. You can also find GSA-generatedlists of real property owned and leased by the federal government between 1953 and 1977and thats barelythe tip of the iceberg of whats available.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com9 10. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012Of course, the federal government can also be liable under CERCLA if it was a historical operator ofa facility. Historically, this type of relationship is best seen during wartime (especially World War II)when the government assumed control of much of Americas economy as part of our industrialmobilization efforts.In searching for records pertaining to the governments operational control of private facilities duringwartime, historians review sources like those listed on this slide for information concerning thegovernments control of:Input Determinations at an industrial facility, meaning control or management of a plants: Facilities,Equipment, Raw materials, Labor, and Intellectual propertyOutput Determinations at an industrial facility, meaning control or management of a companys:Products, Production levels and schedules, Price, Customers (that is, who should receive theproducts, how much should they receive, and the means of transport), Waste handling/disposalpracticesAs with so many records of interest on soil and groundwater contamination matters, many of thesesources can be found with federal records collections.I now want to turn to a very brief overview of the National Archives and Library of Congress and thetype of records that can be found at these repositories.In doing so, I hope to convey the complexities of conducting research at these repositories andsuggest why attorneys should consider adding professional historians to their legal teams rather thandoing this research on their own.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com10 11. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012While the National Archives is perhaps best known for preserving the so-called Charters ofFreedom (the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights) in the ArchivesRotunda in Washington, DC, it is also charged with preserving and making available to the publicfederal government records of permanent historical value.Interestingly, of all the records created or maintained by the federal government, less than 5% aredeemed to be of permanent historical value and are preserved in the National Archives. Yet, as theNational Archives likes to boast, laid side to side, pages in the National Archives custody would stillcircle the Earth over 57 times.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com11 12. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012Because of the volume of its records collections and the vastly different ways in which each agencyhistorically organized its records, conducting research at in the National Archives is unlike conductingresearch at any other repository.First, a couple of thoughts on what the National Archives does not have.Electronic index to all its recordsCard catalogOpen shelving where you can browse the stacks for useful recordsInstead, the National Archives organizes its records into more than 570 record groups, each of whichcomprises the records of a major government entity, usually a bureau or an independent agency.Each record group can contain thousands of pages of documents.The National Archives employs consulting archivists who can help you to find records, but they donot do research for you. This is where professional historians can help. Im not saying thatprofessional historians are the only people who can effectively conduct research at the NationalArchivesbut historians are more likely to find a broader array of relevant records, quicker, and, inthe long run, cheaper, than non-historians.This is especially true in complex soil and groundwater matters with multiple PRPs and contaminantsof interest.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com12 13. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012Federal records of use on soil and groundwater contamination matters, though, are not just confinedto the National Archives system. In fact, federal libraries, including the de facto nations library, theLibrary of Congress in Washington, DC, are another invaluable resource.For its part, the Library of Congress contains an unparalleled collection of historical maps, includingSanborn maps, historical U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps, U.S. Coast & Geodetic Surveycoastline maps, and city maps and atlases.The library also contains one of the worlds biggest collection of historical trade and scientificliterature. In other words, the Library of Congress often maintains copies of those obscure industrialjournals that can provide critical evidence in a variety of legal matters.Most federal agencies also have their own publicly accessible archives, libraries, and/or historicaloffices. Depending on the nature of the site, then, historians may recommend conducting research atone of these libraries, including (but certainly not limited to) the Air Force Historical ResearchAgency; Department of Interior Library; National Agricultural Library; or, U.S. Geological SurveyLibrary.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com 13 14. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012My final slides show some of the goodies that are available through diligent research. Or, to continuethe metaphor from the beginning of my presentation, some of the needles in the haystack, thathistorians can find.First and foremost, on many matters historians can uncover a veritable cornucopia of documents thatcan help attorneys better understand contaminated sites.As just one example, this is a picture of a World War II-era government sale brochure for thegovernment-owned portion of a beryllium plant. Our client in this matter used this document as oneof their central points in apportionment negotiations with DOJ for government contribution underCERCLA for cleanup activities at his site.(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com14 15. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012Sometimes the old adage is true about a picture being worth a thousand words.When researching the historical activities at former industrial sites, photographs can be an invaluableresource. These photographs can be found in many places, including the National Archives and stateand local historical societies and archives.For example, from 1939-1941 the New York City Department of Taxes photographed nearly everybuilding in the 5 boroughs for tax assessment purposes. This slide shows one such photograph fromQueens.A similar collection of photographs (also from the late 1930s) survives at the Washington StateArchives for buildings that stood in King County (Seattle).(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com 15 16. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012Lastly, I want to touch upon the value of historical aerial photographs.Beginning in the 1930s, federal and state agencies and private companies blanketed the UnitedStates with aerial reconnaissance flights. These aerial photographs can provide valuable clues abouteverything from the changing footprint of sites to the location of sewer outflows and waste piles.In addition to well-known federal government collections of aerials (such as the National Archives,U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Department of Agriculture), there are numerous public and privatecollections of aerials. And, while in some cases just ordering aerials via EDR or other on-linesources is sufficient, in many cases it is useful to consult as many sources as possible, as differentrepositories have different collections of aerials.For example, the two aerials in this slide were collected from two different repositories and show aNew Jersey railroad freight terminal during the mid-20th century. Of interest in these photographs, isthe absence of one of the piers at the complex between the top photograph (1940) and the secondphotograph (1951).(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com16 17. Historical Research in ContaminationMatters, Presented on 3/23/2012In conclusion, I would like to recommend that attorneys consider using historians and other outsideexperts on your legal teams.As with environmental scientists and other experts, professional historians can use the skills listed onthis slide to bring significant value to soil and groundwater contamination matters, as we helpattorneys to: Identify and Characterize PRPs to Site Contamination Negotiate More Equitable Allocations for Site Cleanup Costs Inform Negotiating Strategies with PRPs and Regulatory Agencies(c) History Associates Inc.www.historyassociates.com17