News Release from EPA Region 6

EPA Proposes to Add Phillips County Chemical Company

to National Priorities List of Superfund Sites

Nine hazardous waste sites added, 10 proposed

(DALLAS – March 13, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced the Cedar Chemical Corporation site in Phillips County, Arkansas, has been proposed to be added to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites, a list of sites that pose risks to people’s health and the environment. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.

The site, just south of West Helena along state highway 232, consists of six former production units, support facilities, and an office. The area has been occupied by different chemical companies since 1970, with the last owner, Cedar Chemical Corporation, filing for bankruptcy in 2002. Cedar Chemical manufactured agricultural chemicals, including insecticides and herbicides, which left behind contaminants such as chloroform and methylene chloride. Other threats include abandoned chemicals, buried drums, groundwater and soil contamination, and an abandoned stormwater treatment system.

“Today we’re taking an important step toward restoring contaminated property and protecting people’s health and our environment,” said EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz. “Cleaning up hazardous waste in our communities and returning properties to environmental and economic vitality are EPA priorities.”

In 2003, EPA removed abandoned tanks and containers, and in 2007 the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality issued an administrative order to several former operators of the site to address environmental concerns. Adding the site to the NPL will allow for more extensive clean-up of remaining contamination.

The EPA will seek public comment on adding the Cedar Chemical Corporation site to the NPL for 60 days. Comments will be considered as the agency completes the final decision process.

Since 1983, 1,661 sites have been listed on the NPL. Of these sites, 359 have been cleaned up resulting in 1,302 sites currently on the NPL (including the nine sites added today). There are 62 proposed sites (including the 10 announced today) awaiting final agency action.

With all NPL sites, the EPA works to identify companies or people responsible for the contamination at a site, and requires them to conduct or pay for the cleanup. For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, the EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant cleanup at the site. Therefore, it may be several years before significant EPA cleanup funding is required for these sites.

More information on the Superfund NPL is available at http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

EPA audio file is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/mar2012.html

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News Release from EPA Region 2

Drums from the Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment Superfund Site in Le Roy, New York To Be Removed by Friday

Contact: Mary Mears (212) 637-3673; mears.mary@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y. – February 22, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that the removal of 235 drums from the Lehigh Railroad Derailment Superfund site in Le Roy, N.Y. will begin today. The EPA reviewed the sampling results for the contents of all the drums and in all cases considers them to be non-hazardous. The drums, which contain soil and rocks generated when wells were drilled at the site, were sampled during the past month.

A December 1970 train derailment resulted in the release of liquid trichloroethene (TCE) and cyanide crystals. The material in the drums was tested for these and other contaminants. No tested contaminants were detected in materials from 203 of the drums. In 32 of the drums, some detectable concentrations of contaminants were found.

Specifically, eight drums had detectable levels of TCE only, eight others had detectable levels of cyanide only and eight drums had detectable levels of both. One drum had detectable levels of TCE and cis-1,2-dichloroethene, which is a breakdown product of TCE. The remaining 7 drums primarily had detections of either common lab contaminants or contaminants typically associated with petroleum products. These contaminants include: acetone, carbon disulfide, ethylbenzene, toluene, total xylenes, methylcyclohexane, and 2-butanone (MEK). In all cases the levels of these contaminants were low and are below health-based levels.

While the EPA considers the drums non-hazardous and eligible for disposal as non-hazardous waste, the Lehigh Valley Railroad has arranged for material to be disposed of at a landfill that is permitted to accept hazardous waste. The facility set to accept the waste is EQ-Wayne Disposal Inc. Landfill in Belleville, Michigan. Drum removal from the site will begin this morning and is expected to be completed by the end of the week. The Lehigh Valley Railraod will pay the cost of disposing of the drums, not tax payers.

For more information about the site visit: http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/lehighvalley/.

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