United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5502G)
EPA 520-F-93-007
Spring 1993
vvEPA
Superfund At Work
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Efforts Nationwide
Site Description:
Abandoned dump located in a
wooded area, with nearby wetlands
Site Size: 2 acres
Primary Contaminants:
Volatile organic compounds
CVOC^ hwtfwolftg ethyl benzene
fndi«oftjej»e;,*ie»Vy mietals; and
pQl^hi^naw^l eljshenyjs fPCts)
Potential Range of Health
Risks: Incased incidence of
cancer as a result of direct contact
with contaminated ground water .
Nearby Population Affected:
30Q people,, within one mile
Ecological Concerns:
Damage to wetlands
Year Listed oil NPL: 1983
EPA Region: III
State: Oel«w*re
Congressional District: 21
Drums Removed at Harvey and Knott Drum Site
Off-Site
Approved
Facility
Success In Brief
Cleanup Nearly Complete at
Harvey and Knott Site
From 1963 to 1969, two acres of the Harvey and Knott Drum site in
New Castle County, Delaware served as an open dump and burning
area for sanitary, municipal, and industrial wastes. Sludge, paint
pigment, and solvents contaminated the site until the State of Dela-
ware and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intervened
in 1981. Site conditions required a combination of traditional cleanup
measures. After the immediate health threats posed by the site were
eliminated, EPA reached an innovative, "mixed funding" settlement
for long-term cleanup with two parties responsible for the site con-
tamination. The following actions highlight the success of the
Superfund program:
• An emergency removal of contaminants reduced immediate envi-
ronmental and public health effects;
• A rapid assessment of ground water safeguarded drinking water
supplies; and
• The full cooperation of General Motors (GM) expedited implemen-
tation of the cleanup, valued at $3.2 million.
The Site Today
Site cleanup is near completion.
In 1982 and 1984, EPA re-packed
and disposed of hundreds of
drums containing hazardous
waste, many of them leaking.
Following a period of negotiations,
GM, the major responsible party,
removed the remaining drums and
other waste in 1988. GM is design-
ing a cleanup plan for excavating
contaminated sludge and covering
"hot spot" areas with soil caps.
The excavation and soil cap work
will begin in May 1993. The design
for surface water and ground
water monitoring will be imple-
mented in early 1993.
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Superfund At Work • Harvey and Knott Drum, Inc., New Castle, DE • Spring 1993
The two-acre Harvey and
Knott Drum site is located in
New Castle County, Delaware,
one-half mile east of the Mary-
land-Delaware border. The
Harvey and Knott Drum
New Castle County,
Delaware
former disposal area is set back
several hundred feet from the
main highway, in an open
field. Woodlands surround the
site and wetlands are located
to the south. Trailer homes and
A Site Snapshot
a residential development lie
approximately 1,400 feet to the
north. About 300 people live
within a one-mile radius.
Between 1963 and 1969,
Harvey and Knott Trucking, Inc.
operated an open dump and
burning area on the site, accept-
ing sanitary, municipal, and
industrial wastes containing
sludge, paint pigments, and
solvents. General Motors (GM)
and the Chrysler Corporation
were among the major contribu-
tors of wastes to the site. Around
1977, Harvey and Knott Truck-
ing, Inc. split off into two busi-
nesses — Harvey & Harvey,
Inc., and Knotts, Inc.
Some wastes were emptied
onto the ground or into exca-
vated trenches or left in drums,
some of which were buried.
Other wastes were either burned
or, if liquid, allowed to seep into
the soil. As a result of these
negligent dumping practices,
ground water was contami-
nated with volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) such as
ethyl benzene and toluene, and
with heavy metals including
arsenic, cadmium, and lead.
Soil and sediments contained
Fortunately, no adverse
ecological effects on
nearby wetlands or local
wildlife have been
observed
the same contaminants, as well
as polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs). Some of these chemi-
cals are known or suspected
carcinogens.
Fortunately, no adverse
ecological effects on nearby
wetlands or local wildlife have
been observed as a result of
past disposal activities.
Harvey and Knott Drum
Site Timeline
•'*<]
Improper disposal of hazardous wastes
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Superfund At Work • Harvey and Knott Drum, Inc., New Castle, DE • Spring 1993
EPA's Immediate Actions Reduce Volume of Wastes
While conducting routine
aerial surveys in January 1981,
Maryland state environmental
officials discovered an area of
dying vegetation and empty
drums around the Harvey and
Knott site. A Delaware state
team, sent to investigate the
area, found an uncontrolled
hazardous waste site and noti-
fied EPA.
A year before, Congress had
enacted legislation creating the
Superfund program, with a
primary aim of cleaning up the
nation's most dangerous haz-
ardous waste sites. Whenever
possible, EPA locates those
responsible for the site contami-
nation and tries to negotiate the
use of private resources for
cleanup.
Findings of Contamination
Lead to Cleanup
EPA sampled the soil and
ground water around the site in
November 1981, and discovered
VOCs and heavy metal contami-
nation. In June 1982, EPA fenced
the site to prevent public expo-
sure to site contaminants, col-
lected and analyzed more ground
water and soil samples, and
separated, packaged, and trans-
ported 43 drums containing 2,000
This revised plan
significantly reduced
cleanup costs from an
estimated $9 million to
$3.2 million
gallons of solvents to an off-site,
licensed facility. In September
1983, the site was placed on the
National Priorities List (NPL),
EPA's roster of hazardous waste
sites eligible for cleanup under
Superfund.
In March 1984, EPA removed
the most hazardous waste on
the site to a licensed disposal
facility. Two hundred drums of
wastes were safely separated,
152 drums containing 1,925
gallons of waste were removed,
and an additional 500 empty
drums were tested, crushed, and
temporarily stored until they
could be removed.
In September 1985, EPA se-
lected its long-term remedy for the
site, which included: cleaning an
on-site drainage pond and remov-
ing the remaining surface debris
(including drums and contami-
nated sludge). A ground water
extraction and treatment system
was recommended to remove
contaminants from the shallow
ground water and soil. After
cleanup the site would be graded
and covered with a soil cap.
In 1987, EPA reached a coop-
erative agreement with GM and
the cleanup efforts continued.
Between 1988 and 1990, GM
excavated and removed 955
cubic yards of soil and 105 waste
drums to an off-site, licensed
disposal facility.
Soil and ground water sam-
pling after the removal showed
that site contamination was
limited to specific areas. VOCs
were present in five monitoring
wells, and lead contamination
was confined to "hot spots."
Based on this new informa-
tion, EPA eliminated the ground
water treatment system from its
original cleanup design, deciding
instead to cap the soil in the "hot
spot" areas, and continue selec-
tive monitoring elsewhere to
ensure cleanup standards. This
revision significantly reduced
cleanup costs from an estimated
$9 million to $3.2 million.
Page 3
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Superfund At Work • Harvey and Knott Drum, Inc., New Castle, DE • Spring 1993
First Mixed Funding Settlement
EPA successfully negotiated What Is Mixed Funding?
agreements with two parties
responsible for contamination —
GM and Harvey & Harvey, Inc.
— to pay for the cleanup at the
Harvey and Knott Drum site.
GM is performing most of the
Mixed funding is a settlement
strategy used to encourage parties
to reach an agreement with EPA
to clean up contaminated sites.
Under mixed funding, EPA
settles with fewer than all of the
cleanup work under EPA's first responsible parties for a substan-
mixed funding agreement, signed tial portion of the cleanup. The
in September 1987. Under a remainder of the costs or work
preauthorization agreement, GM can be contributed by EPA, or
is required to perform the obtained from financially viable
cleanup and then seek reimburse- parties who are not part of the
ment from the non-settling mixed funding settlement.
parties. If unsuccessful in obtain- Preauthorization is one type of
ing reimbursement, GM can
submit a claim to EPA for up to
one-third of its costs.
In March 1988, Harvey &
Harvey, Inc. agreed to pay a one-
time fee of $350,000 plus interest,
toward past and future cleanup
costs. EPA is currently suing the
two non-settling parties —
Chrysler Corporation and Knotts, cleanup.
mixed funding; the other two are
mixed work and cash out.
Mixed funding provides an
incentive for cooperative parties
to settle, and avoids time-consum-
ing and resource-intensive litiga-
tion. It also provides for advance
financing by the responsible
parties, thereby expediting
Success at
Harvey and
Knott
EPA and GM have re-
moved the major sources of
contamination and reduced
immediate health concerns at
the site.
After assessing on-site
contaminants, EPA was
flexible in re-designing its
cleanup approach, substan-
tially reducing construction
expenses.
In the Superfund
program's first application of
a mixed funding settlement,
EPA successfully reached an
agreement with cooperating
parties to conduct long-term
cleanup. Work at this site
should be completed in 1994.
uu_. — iui reimuurseHieiii or past
cleanup costs.
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