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Superfund Adds Paint, Plating Sites

Monday, September 17, 2012

Abandoned paint, chemical and finishing operations are among 20 newly approved or proposed additions to the federal Superfund cleanup list.

EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency says 360 of 1,676 Superfund sites have been cleaned up. They include a site in Leadville, CO, shown before and after the project.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding 12 new hazardous-waste sites to Superfund’s National Priorities List (NPL) for cleanup. EPA is also proposing to add another eight sites to the list.

New Sites

The newly approved sites include:

Alabama Plating Company Inc. A former metal plating company in Vincent, AL, APC’s operations consisted of hot-dip galvanizing and electroplating of zinc, cadmium and copper on steel, along with associated cleaning and rinsing operations. At one time, the company also operated an unpermitted hazardous waste landfill.

Extensive contamination of groundwater and other areas has been documented since the 1980s.The site was first proposed for addition to the Superfund List in 2000.

Cedar Chemical Corp. The abandoned manufacturing facility in West Helena, AR, was initially operated by Helena Chemical, then by Eagle River Chemical and, finally, Cedar Chemical, which declared bankruptcy in 2002. Cedar abandoned the site, leaving chemicals, buried drums, and a variety of ground water, soil and other contamination.

The companies processed a variety of organic chemicals and polymers.

The other sites are:

• Fairfax St. Wood Treaters (former wood treating operation) – Jacksonville, FL;

• Bautsch-Gray Mine (former lead and zinc mine) - Galena, IL;

• EVR-Wood Treating/Evangeline Refining Co. (former wood treating operation) - Jennings, LA;

• Leeds Metal (abandoned scrap metal facility) - Leeds, ME;

• Holcomb Creosote Co. (former wood treating operation) - Yadkinville, NC;

• Peters Cartridge Factory (former ammunition manufacturer) - Kings Mills, OH;

• U.S. Oil Recovery - Pasadena, TX;

• Orange Valley Regional Ground Water Contamination - Orange/West Orange, NJ;  

• West Troy Contaminated Aquifer - Troy, OH; and

• Circle Court Ground Water Plume - Willow Park, TX

Proposed Additions

The newly proposed additions to the National Priorities list include:

Riverside Industrial Park. The seven-acre, 100-year-old industrial site in Newark, NJ, has been home to many industrial businesses, including a paint manufacturer, a packaging company and a chemical warehouse.

In its initial assessment of the site, the EPA found 10 abandoned 12,000- to 15,000-gallon underground storage tanks containing hazardous waste; about 100 3,000- to 10,000-gallon aboveground storage tanks; two tanks containing oily waste; and dozens of 55-gallon drums and smaller containers containing solvents and other hazardous industrial waste.

Walton & Lonsbury Inc. The old chrome plating site, in Attleboro, MA, operated from 1940 to 2007, discharging toxic waste directly into wetlands on the property. Contaminants include chromium, hexavalent chromium, lead and VOCs.

The other proposed sites are:

• Mulberry Streets PCE Plume (former dry cleaner) - Martinsville, IN;

• United Zinc & Associated Smelters (former zinc smelter) - Iola, KS;

• Creese & Cook Tannery - Danvers, MA;

• Matlack Inc. (former chemical transportation business) - Woolwich Township, NJ;

• Clinch River Corp/ (former pulp and paper mill) - Harriman, TN; and

• 700 South 1600 East PCE Plume - Salt Lake City, UT.

Uncontrolled and Abandoned

Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country. For each of the 20 sites announced last week, EPA has received letters of concurrence from state officials supporting the NPL listing.

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

“Cleaning up contamination is vitally important to the health of America’s communities,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

Since 1983, 1,676 sites have been listed on the NPL; 360 of those have been cleaned up. Fifty-four proposed sites (including the eight newly announced) are awaiting final agency action.

Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the final and proposed sites are available here.

Comment from Car F., (9/18/2012, 10:40 AM)

How is it possible that public money [taxpayers] is subsidizing private money? the private owners of these enterprises should be liable for these sites. Why is the government paying for private companies' problems? shouldn't the shareholders be responsible for their bisunesses?, is this another case of corporate welfare bums taking advanatage of the system?, why were these owners allowed to leave the bad stuff behind?, were the regulating agencies and the politicians in complicity with these private owners?

Comment from Tom Schwerdt, (9/18/2012, 11:32 AM)

If former owners can be identified and still exist, they are typically required to pay for the cleanup. Declaring a Superfund site does not require the .gov to clean it up. However - if the former owners are bankrupt, there is not much else to do.

Comment from Gerald Burbank, (9/19/2012, 9:21 AM)

Well stated Tom. If the company is broke and the money is gone, then someone has to clean the site up. Like they say, "You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip".

Comment from M. Halliwell, (9/19/2012, 11:26 AM)

Tom is on the mark on this one. Although changing environmental regulations and insolvency catch some owners, the overall intent of the Superfund sites is to ensure the site gets cleaned up. If the owner can pay (in whole or in part), then it is generally expected that they will...but having a site added to the Superfund list ensures that a clean-up that is in the public interest will get done. Don't forget, Car, the regulating agencies used to be fine with using diesel fuel as a dust supressant and now if you release more than a litre (where I live, a quart if you will) it is considered a spill. Our environmental knowledge has evolved considerably and we collectively (owners, regulators and politicians) know much more now than we did in the past.