EPA Recognizes U.S. Coast Guard for Efficient, Green Cleanup of Curtis Bay Yard Superfund Site

EPA Press Release:

EPA Recognizes U.S. Coast Guard for Efficient, Green Cleanup

of Curtis Bay Yard Superfund Site

BALTIMORE (May 30, 2013)  - The U.S. Coast Guard has completed cleanup construction activity at the Curtis Bay Yard Superfund site in Anne Arundel County, Md., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

EPA provided oversight of the massive 11-year cleanup project and the U.S. Coast Guard led the cleanup effort, which included excavating thousands of tons of contaminated soil and sediment while making use of innovative green practices.

“This cleanup will ensure a healthy environment for the Curtis Bay Yard and the surrounding community, and help with Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin.  “Not only did the Coast Guard work quickly and efficiently at this site, but its use of green practices proudly reflects the Coast Guard’s commitment to environmental stewardship.”

The contaminants of concern at the site included semi-volatile organic compounds, metals, polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxin. 

The Coast Guard’s green remediation included recycling materials, creating green space and minimizing hazardous waste.  Overall during the cleanup, 2,616 tons of concrete were recycled and about 25,000 tons of contaminated soil were treated onsite so it could be shipped to a non-hazardous waste landfill.  This saved more than 500,000 truck miles and approximately

$6 million compared to sending the soil to a hazardous waste landfill.  In addition, approximately 20 tons of steel were recycled.

"Eleven years ago, the Coast Guard Yard was placed on the National Priorities List to address contamination from past practices going all the way back to the Yard's start in 1899,” said Captain Richard K. Murphy, Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Yard. “This began a very productive partnership with EPA and the Maryland Department of the Environment culminating in the remediation of all identified sites. Today, the Yard is a leader in the field of environmental management, and we continue to partner with the EPA and MDE to ensure a healthy environment for the Yard, our neighbors, as well as protecting the vital ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay."

The Chesapeake Bay benefits from this cleanup in several ways. Low impact storm water designs were used to help absorb water into the ground during heavy rains instead of uncontrolled run-off with potential pollutants. These designs replace solid concrete with porous pavers and add more green space with grass, trees and shrubs.

In addition to using innovative remediation, the Coast Guard also chose to clean up the Yard to the more stringent residential cleanup standards rather than using the industrial standards.  This creates more options for future use of the property.

The Coast Guard Yard, located six miles southeast of downtown Baltimore, is a 113-acre ship repair facility used to design, build and repair state-of-the-art ships and boats.  The facility incorporates many sustainable manufacturing practices including creating its own electricity from landfill gas at an on-site co-generation plant.   The crane electrification project further reduces the Yard’s carbon footprint. 

EPA Completes Drinking Water Sampling in Dimock, Pa.

Press release:

EPA Completes Drinking Water Sampling in Dimock, Pa.

PHILADELPHIA (July 25, 2012) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has completed its sampling of private drinking water wells in Dimock, Pa. Data previously supplied to the agency by residents, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot Oil and Gas Exploration had indicated the potential for elevated levels of water contaminants in wells, and following requests by residents EPA took steps to sample water in the area to ensure there were not elevated levels of contaminants. Based on the outcome of that sampling, EPA has determined that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the Agency.

“Our goal was to provide the Dimock community with complete and reliable information about the presence of contaminants in their drinking water and to determine whether further action was warranted to protect public health,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin.  “The sampling and an evaluation of the particular circumstances at each home did not indicate levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take further action.  Throughout EPA's work in Dimock, the Agency has used the best available scientific data to provide clarity to Dimock residents and address their concerns about the safety of their drinking water.”

EPA visited Dimock, Pa. in late 2011, surveyed residents regarding their private wells and reviewed hundreds of pages of drinking water data supplied to the agency by Dimock residents, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot.  Because data for some homes showed elevated contaminant levels and several residents expressed concern about their drinking water, EPA determined that well sampling was necessary to gather additional data and evaluate whether residents had access to safe drinking water.

  

Between January and June 2012, EPA sampled private drinking water wells serving 64 homes, including two rounds of sampling at four wells where EPA was delivering temporary water supplies as a precautionary step in response to prior data indicating the well water contained levels of contaminants that pose a health concern.  At one of those wells EPA did find an elevated level of manganese in untreated well water.  The two residences serviced by the well each have water treatment systems that can reduce manganese to levels that do not present a health concern.

As a result of the two rounds of sampling at these four wells, EPA has determined that it is no longer necessary to provide residents with alternative water.  EPA is working with residents on the schedule to disconnect the alternate water sources provided by EPA.

Overall during the sampling in Dimock, EPA found hazardous substances, specifically arsenic, barium or manganese, all of which are also naturally occurring substances, in well water at five homes at levels that could present a health concern. In all cases the residents have now or will have their own treatment systems that can reduce concentrations of those hazardous substances to acceptable levels at the tap.  EPA has provided the residents with all of their sampling results and has no further plans to conduct additional drinking water sampling in Dimock.

For more information on the results of sampling, visit: http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/states/pa.html .

EPA to Work with Drinking Water Systems to Monitor Unregulated Contaminants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 1, 2012

EPA to Work with Drinking Water Systems to Monitor Unregulated Contaminants

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today published a list of 28 chemicals and two viruses that approximately 6,000 public water systems will monitor from 2013 to 2015 as part of the agency’s unregulated contaminant monitoring program, which collects data for contaminants suspected to be present in drinking water, but that do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

EPA will spend more than $20 million to support the monitoring, the majority of which will be devoted to assist small drinking water systems with conducting the monitoring. The data collected under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 3 (UCMR 3) will inform EPA about the frequency and levels at which these contaminants are found in drinking water systems across the United States and help determine whether additional protections are needed to ensure safe drinking water for Americans. State participation in the monitoring is voluntary. EPA will fund small drinking water system costs for laboratory analyses, shipping and quality control.

The list of contaminants to be studied includes total chromium and hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium-6. Addressing hexavalent chromium in drinking water is a priority for EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. In January 2011, EPA issued guidance to all water systems on how to assess the prevalence of hexavalent chromium and in the March 2011 proposal for UCMR 3, EPA invited comments on whether the agency should include chromium in the final rule. Public comments received by EPA were strongly supportive of adding total chromium and hexavalent chromium for monitoring.

“The monitoring that will take place will provide EPA with invaluable information about what municipalities are seeing in their drinking water all across the country,” said EPA acting assistant administrator for Water Nancy Stoner. “The results of this multi-year monitoring effort will help inform EPA’s work to ensure Americans receive safe drinking water.”

EPA selected the contaminants by first reviewing the agency’s contaminant candidate list, which highlights priority contaminants that need additional research to support future drinking water protections. The contaminants on the list are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems. However, they are not addressed by existing national drinking water standards. Additional contaminants of concern were selected based on current occurrence research and health-risk factors.

EPA has standards for 91 contaminants in drinking water, and the Safe Drinking Water Act requires that EPA identify up to 30 additional unregulated contaminants for monitoring every five years.

For more information, visit: http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/ucmr/ucmr3/index.cfm

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http://www.pollutionengineering.com/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000001161827

http://www.pollutionengineering.com/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000001161827

From the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management, EM Update, Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2012

Oak Ridge Lays Out Big Plans for 2012

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Last year, Oak Ridge’s Environmental Management (EM) program logged one of its most successful years due to sound project management and achievements in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act work.

Oak Ridge plans to maintain that momentum in 2012, and the year is off to a great start. EM employees are making considerable progress on Oak Ridge’s largest projects, specifically the K-25 Demolition Project and Uranium-233 Disposition Project. 

“Our employees laid an excellent foundation last year through the Recovery Act and cooperation with our newly selected prime contractor, URS | CH2M Oak Ridge,” said Sue Cange, acting assistant manager for EM in Oak Ridge. “Those efforts have set the stage for an ambitious year, allowing us to make substantial gains in our work to meet requirements with regulators, protection of the environment, and furthering DOE’s other missions onsite.”

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Employees at Oak Ridge are accelerating work at K-25’s East Wing. Sixty percent of the remaining structure is expected to be down by the end of the September. 

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Currently, Oak Ridge’s EM program has a list of 40 active projects with a wide range of scopes and complexity. At the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), employees are removing K-25’s East Wing more rapidly than anticipated, with 26 percent of the 796,000-square-foot structure down and 60 percent planned for demolition by the end of September. Built as part of World War II’s Manhattan Project, K-25 housed the world’s first gaseous diffusion plant for enriching uranium.

EM is making progress finalizing the K-25 site’s historic preservation plans, which have been under negotiation since 2006. A final agreement is expected this spring.

Also at ETTP, pre-demolition work is scheduled to begin shortly in Building K-27. The eventual removal of this highly contaminated, 383,000-square-foot former gaseous diffusion facility will substantially eliminate risks and free millions of dollars in security and maintenance costs for cleanup elsewhere.

At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), employees removed the 4,000-gallon Tank W-1A this month. The tank, located in ORNL’s central campus, was the greatest source of groundwater contamination at the site. From 1951 until 1986, the tank collected and stored liquid waste from radiochemical separations and high-radiation facilities at ORNL, until significant levels of soil and groundwater contamination were traced to the vessel. Currently, employees are removing the surrounding contaminated soils. The project is expected to be complete this summer in accordance with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) milestone.

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Tank W-1A, a 4,000-gallon contaminated tank buried in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s central campus, was removed from the site in January.

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Also at ORNL, Oak Ridge’s EM program is advancing the Uranium-233 Disposition Project. In late December, the first shipment of inventory from Building 3019 was sent offsite, marking the beginning of the end for the world’s oldest operating nuclear facility. The first phase of shipments is expected to be complete during the next six to nine months.

 At the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), workers continue performing the second round of Recovery Act projects made possible through savings from previous Recovery Act projects. This second round of projects is directed toward mercury mitigation. For example, EM workers are developing an absorption unit to capture and treat mercury-tainted water from a location that is one of the main contributing factors of mercury entering the Upper East Fork Poplar Creek.  

EM is making headway on its National Priorities List (NPL) Site Boundary Delineation Project, which is in the final stages of characterizing 16,000 acres within the Oak Ridge Reservation. When complete, the uncontaminated areas will be removed from the existing NPL. The list, maintained by the EPA, contains sites with known or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants.

Once areas are removed from the list, they can be approved for a greater range of new development and reuse activities. Most water and soil samples have been analyzed and validated, with the final two samples scheduled for completion this month. The overall project remains on schedule to meet a Sept. 30 milestone with TDEC and the EPA.

EPA to Begin Sampling Water at Some Residences in Dimock, PA

From EPA Region 3 news release:

EPA to Begin Sampling Water at Some Residences in Dimock, Pa.

           PHILADELPHIA (Jan. 19, 2012) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it plans to perform water sampling at approximately 60 homes in the Carter Road/Meshoppen Creek Road area of Dimock, Pa. to further assess whether any residents are being exposed to hazardous substances that cause health concerns. EPA’s decision to conduct sampling is based on EPA’s review of data provided by residents, Cabot Oil and Gas, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

“EPA is working diligently to understand the situation in Dimock and address residents’ concerns,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “We believe that the information provided to us by the residents deserves further review, and conducting our own sampling will help us fill information gaps. Our actions will be based on the science and the law and we will work to help get a more complete picture of water quality for these homes in Dimock.”

The sampling will begin in a matter of days and the agency estimates that it will take at least three weeks to sample all the homes. All sampling is contingent on access granted to the property. EPA expects validated results from quality-tested lab to be available in about five weeks after samples are taken.

In addition, EPA is taking action to ensure delivery of temporary water supplies to four homes where data reviewed by EPA indicates that residents’ well water contains levels of contaminants that pose a health concern. EPA will reevaluate this decision when it completes sampling of the wells at these four homes. Current information on other wells does not support the need for alternative water at this time. However, the information does support the need for further sampling.