EXHIBIT 99.4
 
                  [LETTERHEAD OF AMERICAN ECOLOGY CORPORATION]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            CONTACT:     Edmund J. Gorman
95-12                                                         Stephen W. Travers
                                                                  (713) 624-1900

AMERICAN ECOLOGY ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF DEFINITIVE PURCHASE AGREEMENT

     (HOUSTON)  September 22, 1995 - American Ecology Corporation today 
announced the completion of a definitive Purchase Agreement defining terms for
the recently announced $5,000,000 investment in the Company by five of its
directors.  As stated in the Purchase Agreement:

     .    The investing directors, John Harris, Edward Heil, Jack Lemley, Paul
          Schutt and Harry Phillips, Jr., invested $3,250,000 on September 12,
          1995, and agreed to assure the funding of an additional $750,000 by
          September 30, 1995.  Mr. Phillips agreed to fund the remaining
          $1,000,000 by January 5, 1996.

     .    In exchange for these investments, the Company will issue an aggregate
          of 105,264 shares of the Company's newly designated Series D
          Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock and warrants to purchase
          1,052,640 shares of the Common Stock of the Company at an exercise
          price of $4.75 per share.  Each share of the new preferred stock (i)
          is convertible into ten shares of the Common Stock of the Company,
          (ii) will receive a mandatory cumulative dividend at an annual rate of
          8.375%, payable quarterly, and  (iii) will have a liquidation
          preference equal to $47.50 per share plus any accumulated dividends
          attributable to such share.  The warrants will expire if not exercised
          prior to September 12, 1999.

     A special committee of American Ecology's Board of Directors, consisting of
those members who did not participate as investors in the transaction,
negotiated and evaluated the terms of the agreement on behalf of the Company. In
connection with its evaluation, the special committee obtained an opinion from
McKenna & Company, an independent Houston-based investment banking firm, to the
effect that from a financial point-of-view, the terms of the investment pursuant
to the Purchase Agreement are fair to the stockholders of the Company.

     American Ecology operates a nuclear waste disposal facility in Washington, 
has received a license approval for a similar facility in California, has a 
license application pending for a nuclear disposal facility in Nebraska, and 
operates a nuclear processing facility in Tennessee. The Company also operates a
chemical waste disposal facility in Nevada and two in Texas. Services provided 
by the Company include waste packaging, transportation, consulting, 
pretreatment, disposal, fuels blending, recycling, and clean-up services. The 
Company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ECOL.

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