United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5502G)
PB93-963607
EPA520-F-93-002
Spring 1993
» EPA Superfund At Work
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Efforts Nationwide
A chrome plating plant located in
an Industrial park in western
Oregon
Site Size: 2.5 acres
Primary Contaminant:
Hexavatent chromium
Potential Range of Health Risks:
tntestina!, Bvtr, tftf Mdrwy
contaminated water
Nearby Population Affected:
" '
'i&ffii:
Chrome Waste Removed from Ground Water
Chromium-
contaminated
water placed
in treatment
tank
Success In Brief
A Chrome-Plated Success
at Supeifund Site in Oregon
The United Chrome Products site in Corvallis, Oregon posed a
significant environmental threat until the U. S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (EPA) performed comprehensive cleanup actions. Under
the Superfund program, EPA reduced the risk of chromium contami-
nation to the local community and environment by:
Removing contaminated soil, structures, tanks, and various hazard-
ous wastes; and
Removing 30,000 pounds of chromium from ground water, thereby
reducing the level of contamination by 98 percent, and preventing
any further migration.
In addition, EPA negotiated a significant cost recovery to reimburse
the Superfund for $2 million in cleanup costs and to operate on-site
treatment facilities. The United Chrome Products site cleanup illus-
trates Superfund's ability to act quickly and to negotiate equitable
settlements with private parties.
The Site Today
EPA eliminated immediate
threats to the surrounding com-
munity through its comprehen-
sive cleanup efforts. Removal of l
the surface contaminants has
prevented further migration of *
chromium into the ground water,
while an extraction and treatment
plant continues to remove chro-
mium in the ground water.
Cleanup goals for ground
water are expected to be met
before 1998, when the site should
be suitable for industrial use.
Chemical solution added,
causing chromium particles
to precipitate into
sludge at tank bottom
Water transferred
to city wastewater
treatment facility
Chromium particle
sludge removed
for proper disposal
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 5, Library (PL-12J)
77 West Jackson Boulevard, 12th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
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Superfund At Work
United Chrome, Corvallis, Oregon
A Site Snapshot
The United Chrome Prod- Wastes from the hard
ucts site covers two and a half chrome plating operations,
acres in an industrial park next improperly stored and dis-
to the Corvallis Municipal posed of for nearly thirty
Airport, south of the City of years, caused extensive soil
Corvallis.
Approxi-
mately 42,000
people live
within three
miles of the
site, with the
closest resi-
dence just 900 ~^^^^^
feet to the northeast.
From 1956 to 1985, United
Chrome Products manufac-
tured and repaired sawmill
equipment on property leased
from the City of Corvallis.
Hexavalent chromium,
the form of chromium
produced in
plating operations,
can be toxic
in high concentrations
and ground
water
contam-
ination.
Hexavalent
chromium,
the form of
chromium
^^^^^a^ left behind
from the electroplating process,
is a heavy metal which is toxic
in high concentrations, and
can cause liver, intestinal, and
kidney problems if ingested.
Spring 1993 ^-^^-^
Success
From
Team Effort:
Evidence of Chromium
Contamination Surfaces
In 1977, the City of Corvallis
detected evidence of chromium
contamination at the site. United
Chrome Products admitted that
between 1960 and 1977 it dis-
charged an unknown quantity of
chrome plating waste liquids and
sludge into a 15-foot dry well on
the property, which was a major
source of the contamination.
In 1982, some of the accumu-
lated sludges at the site were
removed and disposed of under
the guidance of Oregon's
Department of Environmental
United Chrome
Products Timeline
evidence of chromium
United Chrome Products removes and \
*liiw**vi**",J* A.i AjujLmaAj A*cljfltJil Mk&u&wufcj* N
1956
197?
lite
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Superfund At Work
United Chrome, Corvalhs, Oregon
Spring 1993
EPA, City, and State Work Together
To Clean Up United Chrome Products Site
Quality (DEQ). Another cleanup
took place in 1983, when DEQ
ordered the company to remove
and drum chrome sludges from
"(A)nywhere water fell
it turned yellow
or orange"
indicating the presence
of chromium,
according to a
Superfund investigator
a disposal pit and send the waste
to an approved hazardous waste
facility.
Congress Enacts Superfund
United Chrome Products was
just one of hundreds of industrial
problem sites that had gained
national attention during the late
1970s. In 1980, Congress re-
sponded by passing legislation
that created the Superfund pro-
gram, empowering EPA to clean
up America's worst hazardous
waste sites. In 1983, under this
new program, EPA began in-
vestigating possible chromium
contamination at the site.
EPA's field investigation in late
1983 confirmed chromium con-
tamination in the soil, surface
United Chrome Products
\ Corvallis, OR
water, and shallow ground water
around the plant. Chromium
levels in the soil and ground
water were many times higher
than national safety standards
permitted. While examining the
continued on page 4
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Superfund At Work United Chrome, Corvallis, Oregon Spring 1993
Agencies Work Together to Clean Up Site
The Problem's Source This acid
washing tank from United Chrome
Products shows corrosion and seepage
marks, as do drums in the background.
Poor handling and on-site disposal of the
chemicals from the plating process led to
the contamination of soil and ground
water at the site.
continued from page 3
United Chrome Products site,
investigators recorded high
concentrations of chromium
residue throughout the building.
One Superfund investigator
noted that "anywhere water fell it
turned yellow or orange," indicat-
ing the presence of chromium.
Results of the field investigation
placed United Chrome Products
on Superfund's National Priori-
ties List (NPL) in 1984. The NPL is
a roster of the nation's most
serious abandoned or uncon-
trolled hazardous waste sites.
EPA Begins Cleanup
As United Chrome Products
Goes Out Of Business
From November 1984 to July
1985, EPA investigated and
prepared a report evaluating the
nature and extent of contamina-
tion, as well as the potential for
chromium reaching the underly-
ing ground water. In January
1985, DEQ fined United Chrome
Products $6,000 for "negligent
and sloppy operating practices"
Salem (Oregon) Statesman/Journal.
Later that year, United Chrome
Products folded, with no plans to
pay for the site cleanup.
EPA mobilized
to eliminate
immediate risks
posed by the site
Shortly after United Chrome
Products' closure, EPA mobilized
to eliminate the immediate risks
posed by the site. Between July
and November 1985, Superfund
workers removed 8,130 gallons of
chromium-contaminated liquids
and 11,000 pounds of chromium-
contaminated solids. These ac-
tions diminished the immediate
threats posed by surface contami-
nants, while EPA investigators
continued their evaluation of the
site to determine the necessary
long-term cleanup measures.
EPA Works With Community
and Local Officials to Design
Satisfactory Cleanup
At a public forum in August
1985, EPA presented several
cleanup options to the local
community, the City of Corvallis,
and the State of Oregon for com-
ment. EPA's preferred option
called for demolishing two heavily
contaminated sections of the
United Chrome Products build-
ing, and disposing of the debris
and underlying soil at a hazard-
ous waste facility. EPA would
infiltrate clean water into underly-
ing soil to flush out contamina-
tion, extract contaminated ground
water, treat the water, and releas^
it into a nearby creek.
continued on page 6
Page 4
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Superfund At Work
United Chrome, Corvallis, Oregon
Spring 1993
Insight Into the Manufacturing Process:
Chrome Plating at United Chrome
When people think of
chrome, they often imagine
shining hub caps, tools, and
household fixtures. Chromium
is used extensively in industry
as a protective and decorative
, . coating for metal
parts. A chrome-
plated metal part
'. ':.( " will be shinier and
more wear-resistant
than an uncoated one. United
Chrome carried out only indus-
trial hard chrome plating at its
Corvallis plant.
The chrome plating process
is fairly simple. The metal
object to be plated is placed in a
tank containing a solution of
water, chromic acid, and sulfu-
ric acid.
A negative electrode is
attached to the object, while a
positive electrode is attached to
an insoluble piece of metal also
in the tank. When an electric
current is run through the two
metal objects, chromium con-
tained in the chromic acid
becomes positively charged
and bonds to the negatively
charged object in the tank -
building up the chrome plate.
Chromium is found in
nature in two common forms,
hexavalent and bivalent.
Hexavalent chromium (Cr+6),
which causes liver, kidney, and
intestinal disease if ingested
over a long time period, is far
more toxic than trivalent chro-
mium (G*3).
Trivalent chromium is the
shiny metal chrome we see coat-
ing the finished products. Toxic
hexavalent chromium is a by-
product of the chrome-plating
process found in the wastewater
left behind.
wastes from their chrome-
plating operations were
dumped into a pit behind their
plant. It was hexavalent chro-
mium that eventually leached
into the soil and underlying
ground water causing extensive
United Chrome plated parts contamination and requiring a
and tools for the lumber industry, comprehensive, long-term
For decades, chrome leaked from cleanup.
their plating tanks, and liquid
The Chrome Plating Process
Plating tank contains a
solution of water, chromic
acid, and sulfuric acid
A negative
electrode is
attached to the
object to be
plated (here, a
saw blade)
A positive electrode
is attached to a
piece of metal
suspended in the
liquid
At United Chrome Products,
wastewater with toxic
hexavalent chromium
leaked out through cracks
in plating tanks
Page 5
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Superfund At Work
United Chrome, Corvallis, Oregon
Spring 1993
Agencies Work Together to Clean Up Site...
continued from page 4
After reviewing the proposal,
city and state officials were not
satisfied with the scope of EPA's
preferred cleanup method. They
favored a more thorough ap-
proach featuring the removal of a
greater volume of soil and a more
comprehensive ground water
cleanup.
Local farmers also voiced
concern about the plan because it
would release treated water into a
creek used for crop irrigation.
After extensive meetings and
discussions with state and city
officials in September 1986, EPA
agreed to perform the more
comprehensive cleanup favored
by the community.
Over the next year, engineers
designed the cleanup system. The
remaining chromium-
contaminated soil would be
flushed clean by percolation
basins constructed on site.
The proposed ground water
extraction and treatment system
would pump contaminated
ground water to a plant at the site.
The following steps would then
be taken:
(1) contaminated water would
be sent to a holding tank;
(2) chemicals would be added
to adjust the pH level and
settle out the chromium;
(3) the resulting partially
treated water would be
routed to the City of
Corvallis wastewater
treatment plant for further
treatment; and
(4) chromium sludge in the
bottom of the treatment
tanks would be disposed
of at an approved hazard-
ous waste site.
Extraction wells would be used
to draw up water for treatment
from both the shallow ground
water zone and the deep aquifer.
«liiifl^«a.^i«liiiiiM^HHM4
.m^&^:^
Discolored and corroded drums of industrial waste were found at the United Chrome
Products site. As part of the cleanup, Superfund personnel removed over 1,000 tons of
contaminated waste, debris and soil.
5 ^_
EPA Proceeds With
Long-Term Cleanup
EPA began constructing the
ground water remedy in 1987.
However, the source of the con-
tamination had to be eliminated
before the ground water cleanup
could be effective. Cleanup crews
first decontaminated and demol-
ished the United Chrome Prod-
ucts building.
Next, Superfund personnel
removed over 1,000 tons of debris
and heavily contaminated soil
Superfund personnel
removed about
1,000 tons of debris and
heavily contaminated soil
from the former disposal pit and
plating tank areas. These wastes
were disposed of at a federally
regulated hazardous waste
facility. Between 1987 and 1988,
EPA also constructed the percola-
tion basins to flush contaminated
soil, built the on-site ground
water treatment plant, and in-
stalled shallow extraction wells.
Monitoring of both the shallow
and deep ground water aquifers
below the site revealed that
contamination was more exten-
sive than originally estimated.
Superfund workers drilled sev-
eral more extraction wells,
covering a wider area, to ad-
dress the more extensive chro-
mium contamination. They also
added water injection wells to
the system.
These wells pumped clean
water into deeper ground water
areas to prevent contaminated
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Superfund At Work United Chrome, Corvallis, Oregon Spring 1993
EPA Negotiates Equitable Settlement With City
ground water from flowing from
the shallow to the deeper areas.
The additional wells improved
the performance of the system
and further reduced the risk of
chromium migrating into ground
water and contaminating local
drinking water sources. EPA
workers also rerouted a surface
drainage ditch to divert drainage
around the site and prevent
contaminated water from flow-
ing off site.
In addition to these cleanup
measures, an alternate water
supply was provided to the
airport area prior to construction
of the ground water cleanup
system in 1987
Ground Water Cleanup
A Success
Although the extensive chro-
mium contamination requires a
long-term cleanup, as of early
1993 the ground water treatment
plant has removed approximately
Corvallis' operation of
the water treatment plant
considerably reduced
cleanup costs
30,000 pounds of chromium from
the ground water. As a result,
chromium levels have dropped
significantly and the contamina-
tion has been contained.
To date, average chromium
concentrations in the ground
water have been reduced by 98
percent from approximately
2,000 parts per million to approxi-
mately 36 parts per million since
the plant began operating. Given
the past performance of the plant,
the cleanup goal of returning the
deep ground water to national
drinking water standards, and the
shallow ground water to a level
protective of the deeper water,
should be met by 1998.
Superfund Enforcement
Proves Flexible and Fair
With surface contami-
nants removed and
the ground water
cleanup moving
forward, EPA focused
its efforts on making the
responsible parties pay for
the cleanup. The Agency
thoroughly investigated
the company and its owners in
an attempt to obtain a settlement,
but that was unsuccesful. This
situation forced EPA to negotiate
a settlement with the City of
Corvallis which, as the owner of
the land upon which the site is
located, was also liable for the
United Chrome Products cleanup.
From the outset, the city dis-
played a willingness to participate
in the cleanup process, but consis-
tently maintained it was not liable
for the entire site cleanup.
Corvallis aided the cleanup by
operating the ground water
extraction and treatment plant
from the time it was built.
This contribution reduced
cleanup costs considerably, since
the city's municipal workers were
able to operate the plant much
more economically than a private
contractor. Rather than force
Corvallis to pay the entire
cleanup bill, the Agency sought
to negotiate an equitable settle-
ment with the city.
In June 1992, EPA, the U.S.
Department of Justice, the State
of Oregon, and the City of
Corvallis signed an
agreement whereby
the city would pay
EPA $2 million
over seven years
to help defray
some of
Superfund's
investigation
and cleanup
costs. This agree-
ment ended years of
negotiation over who would
bear the cleanup costs and allevi-
ated the city's concerns that it
would be forced to pay the entire
$8.6 million cleanup bill.
Shortly after the settlement was
announced, a local newspaper
declared, "EPA Settlement on
Toxic Cleanup Good for
Corvallis." The settlement also
calls for the city to continue
operating the ground water
treatment plant until cleanup
goals are met.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 5, Library (PL-12J)
77 West Jackson Boulevard, 12th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
-------
Superfund At Work
United Chrome, Corvallis, Oregon
Spring 1993
Community Involvement
Plays Role at Site
Another Superfund priority is
getting the community involved
at every stage of a cleanup.
Throughout the cleanup process
at the United Chrome Products
site, EPA made every effort to
keep Corvallis' residents and
officials up to date on the latest
site developments. Toward this
end, Superfund staff provided
information for numerous news-
paper articles and distributed site
fact sheets.
These activities were especially
important during the selection of
the ground water treatment
method, for which community
input was considered by EPA.
Ultimately, EPA chose the
cleanup option favored by city
and state officials and addressed
local farmers' concern about the
on-site treatment plant's discharge.
This dialogue and cooperative
relationship between EPA and
the affected community illus-
trates the Agency's commitment
to keeping local residents in-
formed and involved during the
cleanup process.
If you wish to be added to our mailing list or to comment on this bulletin's content, length
or format, please call (703) 603-8984 or send a letter to Superfund At Work (5502G),
401 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20460.
Success at
United
Chrome
Products
EPA, working coopera-
tively with state and local
officials, effectively eliminated
the immediate risk of contami-
nation by removing surface
contaminants and providing
dean drinking water.
Levels of chromium con-
tamination in the ground
water have already been
reduced by 98 percent by the
on-site treatment plant, and
cleanup will continue until
national drinking water
standards are met.
Additionally, the success-
ful cleanup of the United
Chrome site illustrates
Superfund's commitment to
fairness when seeking to
recover its cleanup costs.
For additional copies of this or other Superfund At Work updates, contact the National Technical Information Service,
U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161, telephone (703) 487-4650
&EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
5502G
Washington, D.C. 20460
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