EPA to Hold Public Meeting on Plan for the White
Chemical Corporation Superfund site in Newark, New Jersey
Contact: Elias Rodriguez, 212-637-3664, rodriguez.elias@epa.gov
(New York, N.Y. – July 25, 2012) The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a plan to clean up contaminated
ground water beneath the White Chemical Corporation Superfund site
in Newark, New Jersey. The ground water was contaminated with volatile organic
compounds by past industrial activities at the site. Volatile organic compounds
can cause serious damage to people’s health and the environment. The proposed
plan calls for the injection of chemicals into the ground water that will break
down the contamination. The ground water will be monitored and its use will be
restricted. 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 Newark City Hall Council Chambers, 920 Broad Street, Newark.
Comments will be accepted until August 21, 2012.
The former White Chemical Corporation site,
which covers 4.4 acres, is located at 660 Frelinghuysen Avenue in Newark, and is
surrounded by many residential, commercial and industrial properties. Beginning
in the 1930s, portions of the site were used by multiple businesses for
industrial activities including the manufacture of acid chlorides and fire
retardants. The White Chemical Corporation operated a chemical manufacturing
facility at the site from 1983 to 1990 and was cited by the New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection for multiple environmental violations
before the company abandoned the facility. Thousands of drums were left behind,
with many of them leaking hazardous chemicals. The site was added to the federal
Superfund list of the country’s most hazardous waste sites in 1991.
Because of
the nature and complexity of the contamination at the site, the investigations
and cleanups have been divided into three phases. The proposed plan announced
today is for the third phase of the long-term cleanup.
The first
phase of the work alleviated immediate threats to the surrounding
community. The work was complex and dangerous and
included removing drums of potentially explosive chemicals, addressing leaking
chemicals throughout the site and decontaminating some buildings. In all, the
EPA supervised the removal of about 9,000 drums, 12,500 chemical containers,
50,000 gallons of liquid contained in process tanks and addressed many other
hazards at the facility. Some of the hazardous materials were treated on-site to
neutralize the contamination. Others were removed for re-use or disposed of at
off-site facilities with permits to receive them.
Under phase two of the cleanup, the EPA focused
on ongoing sources of harmful vapors that could impact the surrounding area,
including contaminated buildings and soil and abandoned storage tanks. In this
phase, the EPA excavated and removed 23,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil
from the site, demolished nine buildings and removed an above ground storage
tank. The EPA then placed clean soil over the contaminated areas and placed a
stone cover over the entire property to prevent erosion.
The third
phase and final phase of the cleanup announced today addresses the contaminated
ground water. After extensive study, the EPA has concluded that it is not
technically feasible to pump out and treat the contaminated ground water because
of the complex rock formations underlying the site. The depth, nature and
variety of the rock formations would present extreme technical challenges.
Instead, the proposed plan calls for
bioremediation, the injection of chemicals into the ground water to promote the
breakdown of the pollutants. The specific process to be used to inject the
chemical additive will be determined by the EPA as part of the design of the
cleanup. Once the process has begun, the EPA will collect samples to confirm
that the bioremediation is effective. The EPA is proposing to install additional
monitoring wells to monitor the ground water and to put into place restrictions
that will prevent its use as a source of drinking water in the future.
The EPA is
requiring periodic collection and analysis of ground water samples to verify
that the level and extent of contaminants are declining and that people’s health
and the environment are protected.
To date,
the EPA has spent about $20 million on the cleanup of the White Chemical site.
The estimated cost of the proposed final phase of the cleanup is $25 million.
Written
comments may be mailed or emailed to:
Ray
Klimcsak, Remedial Project Manager
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency – Region 2
290
Broadway - 19th Floor
New York,
N.Y. 10007-1866
(212)
637-3916
For more information on the White Chemical Superfund site, please
visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/whitechem.
Follow EPA
Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
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