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 to Hold Public Meeting on the Cayuga County Ground Water Contamination Superfund site in Cayuga County, New York

Press release:

EPA to Hold Public Meeting on the Cayuga County Ground Water Contamination Superfund site in

Cayuga County, New York

Protecting Drinking Water EPA Priority

Contact: Mike Basile, 716-551-4410, basile.michael@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y. – July 18, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a plan to clean up contaminated ground water at the Cayuga County Ground Water Contamination Superfund site located in Cayuga County, New York. The General Electric Company (GE) owned and manufactured semiconductors at a facility on Genesee Street in the City of Auburn. For a time, Powerex, Inc., a joint venture of GE and others, bought the facility and conducted similar operations there. These companies have been identified as parties potentially responsible for the Cayuga site. Ground water at the site is contaminated with volatile organic compounds, which can cause serious damage to people’s health and the environment. The proposed plan calls for bioremediation of one area of ground water and natural processes for two other areas to reduce the contaminants in the ground water to meet federal and state standards. The EPA will hold a public meeting on August 2, 2012 to explain the proposed plan and is encouraging public comments. The meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Union Springs High School, Union Springs, N.Y., 13160. Comments will be accepted until August 16, 2012.

The site includes contaminated ground water that covers approximately 4.8 square miles extending from Auburn to the Village of Union Springs within portions of the townships of Aurelius, Fleming and Springport. The site contains mostly residential properties mixed with farmland, woodlands and commercial areas. Many area homes get their drinking water from public drinking water supply wells. Routine testing in 1988 of the Village of Union Springs’ municipal water supply showed that the water contained volatile organic compounds that can negatively impact health. Cayuga county installed a treatment system on the public water supply. The New York State Department of Conservation and the EPA investigated and determined that 51 private residential wells in the area were also contaminated with volatile organic compounds. In 2000, the EPA began supplying bottled water to affected residents while the EPA provided treatment systems in the homes and at three area farms. Later, all but one of the homes sampled by the EPA and impacted by the site were connected to the public water system and no longer get their drinking water from private wells. The EPA continues to maintain the treatment systems at the three dairy farms and the residence.  

The site was added to the federal Superfund list in 2002. The EPA conducted an in-depth investigation of the extent of the contamination in order to determine how best to clean it up over the long term. Today’s proposed plan is a result of those investigations.

The EPA’s cleanup proposal divides the site ground water into three areas for planning purposes. For Area 1, which is located immediately south of the former Powerex facility, the agency will use bioremediation. Bioremediation involves adding chemicals to the ground water to promote the breakdown of the pollutants. The specific type of chemical and process to be used will be determined by the EPA as part of the design of the cleanup. Once the additive is selected and the process begun, the EPA will collect samples to confirm that the bioremediation is effective.

For the two remaining areas of ground water contamination, the EPA is proposing to rely on natural processes that are already reducing the levels of contamination and are expected to reduce the level of contamination in the ground water without an active treatment system. These areas are Area 2, located immediately south-southwest of Area 1, and Area 3 located south and southwest of Area 2. Area 1 has the highest levels of contamination followed by Area 2 and Area 3. In order for natural processes, referred to technically as natural attenuation, to work quickly and completely enough, the right conditions must exist underground. In this case, the EPA believes the right conditions exist in Areas 2 and 3. The EPA is requiring periodic collection and analysis of ground water samples to verify that the level and extent of contaminants are declining.

In addition, an important aspect of the long-term cleanup of ground water at the Cayuga Ground Water Contamination site involves cleanup actions being conducted by GE and overseen by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at the former Powerex facility, which is the major source of the contamination impacting the area ground water. Successful completion of the cleanup of the ground water at the former Powerex facility is important to the full realization of the benefits of the EPA’s proposed cleanup plan. New York and the EPA are working closely in their cleanup efforts.

Superfund is the federal cleanup program established by Congress in 1980 to investigate and clean up the country’s most hazardous sites. The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. When sites are placed on the Superfund list, the EPA looks for parties responsible for the pollution and requires them to pay for the cleanups. Cleanups are only funded by taxpayer dollars when those responsible for the pollution cannot be found or are not financially viable. In this instance, the EPA has spent about $10 million in response costs, to date, primarily on investigations and studies and will be seeking to have the cleanup carried out by those responsible for the contamination at the Site. The estimated cost of the EPA’s proposed plan is $24.4 million.

Written comments may be mailed or emailed to:

Isabel R. Rodrigues, Remedial Project Manager

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

290 Broadway, 20th Floor

New York, New York 10007-1866

Telephone: (212) 637-4248

rodrigues.isabel@epa.gov

           

For more information on the Cayuga County Ground Water Contamination Superfund site, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/cayuga.

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News Release from EPA

Metro Container Corp. site added to Superfund list

PHILADELPHIA (March 13, 2012) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced the addition of the Metro Container Corporation site in Trainer, Delaware County, Pa. to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).

The NPL is a national list of sites where hazardous substances could impact human health and/or the environment. These sites first undergo a thorough investigation to determine the full nature and extent of contamination. EPA or the parties responsible for the contamination then address whatever risks the sites pose to human health and the environment.

Located about 20 miles south of Philadelphia near the Delaware River, the site has a long industrial history, which includes its use as a chemical manufacturing plant by the Stauffer Chemical Company from 1920 to 1959. The property was also used as a steel drum reconditioning facility by several companies including the Metro Container Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy in 1987. The site is currently owned by Trainer Industries, an industrial painting company that uses the property mainly for storage.

The main source of contamination on the property is a half-acre backfilled industrial waste lagoon that was used for disposal of drum contents and wastewater. The unlined lagoon was eventually filled in with soil and artificial fill materials and is no longer accessible. Additionally, site soils are contaminated. The contaminants of concern at the site are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), inorganics, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Potential impacts to the surrounding community and environment include contamination to the Delaware River and along the tidal flats of the Delaware River.

The Metro Container site is one of nine sites nationwide that EPA is adding to the NPL today. EPA is also proposing 10 other sites to the list today. 

For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for this and other sites, please visit http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm .

For information about how a site is listed on the NPL, visit: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl_hrs.htm  .

News Release from EPA

EPA Adds Corozal Well Site in Corozal, Puerto Rico

to the Superfund List

  

Contact: Elias Rodriguez, 212-637-3664, rodriguez.elias@epa.gov or Brenda Reyes, 787-977-5869, reyes.brenda@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y. – March 13, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it has added the Corozal Well site in Barrio Palos Blancos, Corozal, Puerto Rico to its Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. Sampling at the site, which is in a rural area near the municipalities of Corozal and Naranjito, found that the chemical tetrachloroethylene or PCE is contaminating a well used to supply drinking water to local residents. Exposure to PCE, a solvent commonly used in industrial processes, can have serious effects of people’s health including liver damage and an increased risk of cancer. After discovering the contamination in 2010, the Puerto Rico Department of Health ordered the well closed. In March 2011, the EPA installed a treatment system on the well to remove the contaminants and provide the community with water that is safe to drink.

  

“Ensuring that people have a safe source of drinking water is essential to protecting public health and is an EPA priority,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “By placing the Corozal Well site on the Superfund list, the EPA can do the extensive sampling needed to find the best ways to address the contamination and protect people’s health.”

The Corozal well, known locally as the Santana well, serves a small, rural population that is not connected to the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority public water supply system. Ground water samples collected in 2010 and 2011 confirmed the presence of PCE in the well. The EPA has not yet identified the source of the ground water contamination.

Nationwide, EPA is proposing to add 10 other sites to the Superfund list today and is designating nine others as final on the list. The EPA periodically proposes sites to the Superfund list and, after responding to public comments, designates them as final Superfund sites. The Superfund final designation makes them eligible for funds to conduct long-term cleanups. The Corozal Well site is now designated as final on the Superfund list.

The EPA does an extensive search to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for the contamination at all sites on the Superfund list. The agency requires responsible parties to pay for or perform the cleanup work with EPA oversight. The majority of Superfund cleanups are performed by or paid for by polluters. Taxpayer dollars are used to cover EPA cleanup costs when no responsible party can be identified.

For more information, visit: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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$10 Million Settlement with Mining Company

News release from EPA Region 9:

For Immediate Release: Feb 16, 2012Media Contacts: Mary Simms, 415-947-4270, simms.mary@epa.gov, Rusty Harris-Bishop, 415-972-3140, harris-bishop.rusty@epa.govDept. of Justice: (202) 514-2007                    

    U.S. EPA, Dept. of Justice reach $10 Million settlement with Department of the Interior, Northern California mining company for cleanup costs and transfer of land to Elem Indian Colony

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a multi-party agreement to settle cleanup costs for seven mining sites in three states. The parties to the agreement include the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bradley Mining Company, the Worthen Bradley Family Trust and the Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians.

Under the settlement, the Bradley Mining Company and Bradley Trust will transfer nearly all of their land holdings at the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine to a new trust created to retain the lands pending EPA cleanup. The Elem Indian Colony will receive approximately 380 acres of uncontaminated land - adding to its current holdings of 50 acres - as compensation for natural resource damages from mining operations by the Bradley Mining Company.     


Nearly $7 million in federal funds will be used to reimburse EPA’s costs for cleaning up contamination at the Elem Indian Colony and the access road to the Colony.


“This significant settlement took three years to hammer out. The result is a win for Clear Lake and a win for the Elem Colony,” said Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator for EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “This settlement will help the Clear Lake ecosystem recover, including reducing the risks due to mercury in fish. It also demonstrates EPA’s strong commitment to supporting the environmental cleanup of tribal lands.”


In addition to the land transfers relating to the Sulphur Bank Mine, the proceeds from insurance policies and any future income from the Bradley Mining Company will be divided among the seven mine sites for future cleanup, with the Bradley Mining retaining a share of the proceeds.


The Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine Superfund Site is located at the southeastern end of the Oaks Arm of Clear Lake. The site includes the Elem Indian Colony which is located directly adjacent to the mine property. The site initially was mined for sulfur from 1865 to 1871. Mercury ore was mined intermittently by underground methods from 1873 to 1905, and open-pit mined from 1915 to 1957. The mine, once one of the largest producers of mercury in California, has been inactive since 1957.


Approximately three million cubic yards of mine wastes and tailings remain on the mine site. Mercury is present in the bottom sediments in Clear Lake, and mercury has bio-concentrated in the food chain of Clear Lake. The levels of mercury in fish from the lake led the State to issue an advisory to limit consumption of fish. Clear Lake is the source of water that the Clear Lake Oaks Water District provides for municipal drinking water for 4,700 people.


This cleanup effort is one of several tribal land cleanups in the Pacific Southwest Region. EPA is currently overseeing the investigation and clean up of contamination on Hopi and Navajo lands throughout the southwest.


The settlement, lodged in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. A copy of the settlement document will be available on the Department of Justice website at: www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html


For more information please visit: www.epa.gov/region9/sulphurbankmercury

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Dredging of Contaminated Sediment to Begin

Excerpt from an article in the February 2012 Civil Engineering magazine:

Dredging of Contaminated Sediment in New Jersey's Passaic River to Begin

As attested to by the large amounts of contaminated sediment present in its channel, New Jersey’s Passaic River has long been home to significant industrial activity.  This contamination is particularly acute in the final 17 miles of the river, from Dundee Dam, in Garfield, to the river’s confluence with Newark Bay.  In an effort to address one of the waterway’s most contaminated locations, dredging is scheduled to begin this spring in a section of the river in Newark that adjoins the site of a former pesticide manufacturing facility known to have released large amounts of the toxic compound dioxin into the river.

The section of the river that is to be dredged is included within the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site, a federally designated area that encompasses the Neward plant site, the final 17 miles of the Passaic and its tributaries, and portions of Newark Bay.  The Superfund site is named after the Diamond Alkali Company, which owned and operated the Newark plant from 1951 to 1969.  (Diamond Alkali was later known as the Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Company.)

Dioxin, a by-product of pesticide manufacture, has been found at high levels at the site of the former manufacturing facility, which is approximately 3 miles upstream of the mouth of the Passaic.  Over time significant quantities of dioxin entered the river, which, because of the tidal influence, carried the contamination upstream as well as downstream.  Under the terms of the federal Superfund law (formally, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act), the Occidental Chemical Corporation – a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, of Dallas – has taken on the liabilities from the operations of the Diamond Shamrock Chemicals facility as a result of its purchase of the liabilities from the Diamond Shamrock Corporation, now known as the Maxus Energy Corporation, of The Woodlands, Texas.  Therefore, Occidental Chemical is legally responsible for remediating the contamination caused by the former manufacturing plant.  However, Maxus Energy has contractual responsibilities through an indemnification agreement with Occidental Chemical to perform remedial activities on the latter’s  behalf.  Meanwhile, a subsidiary of Maxus Energy – Tierra Solutions, Inc., of East Brunswick, New Jersey – is overseeing the financing, design, and construction activities related to the continuing effort to remove contaminated material from the Passaic.  ARCADIS/Malcolm Pirnie, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, is the principal design firm and general contractor for Tierra Solutions.

EPA & TDSHS Warn Against Eating Contaminated Fish

News release from EPA Region 6:

Thursday, February 2, 2012

EPA and TDSHS Warn Against Consumption of Contaminated Fish

(DALLAS – February 2, 2012) During the week of February 6-12, 2012, representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) will be in the area of South Alamo, Texas, to speak with residents about the contamination in the Donna Reservoir and Canal. This effort is being made to provide local residents with information about the health risks of consuming fish taken from the Donna Reservoir and Canal. The possession of contaminated fish taken from the reservoir is prohibited by the TDSHS.

The principal pollutants in the reservoir are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are a group of synthetic organic chemicals that can cause a number of different harmful effects in humans. The primary risk to human health from PCBs is from suspended sediment in the water and the consumption of contaminated fish. Effects of consumption of contaminated fish may include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, skin rashes, acne, and cancer. 

The Donna Reservoir and Canal is an EPA Superfund site located in Hidalgo County in southern Texas just north of the Rio Grande. The site includes the Donna Reservoir, the Donna Main Canal, the West and East Main Canals which extend north from the reservoir, and a series of interconnecting canals.  

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