United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5502G)
EPA520-F-93-014
Summer 1993
& EPA Su perf u nd At Work
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Efforts Nationwide
Common Steps in
the Removal Process
Addressing immediate threats
Sampling
Success in Brief
The Superfund Removal Team
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts a broad
range of operations under the removal program from its Region 1 office
in Boston, Massachusetts. Region 1 includes the states of Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The
removal program is one part of a much broader Superfund effort aimed
at cleaning up the nation's hazardous waste sites. The removal team
quickly responds to hazardous waste emergencies and undertakes early
actions at abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. These
activities generally cost less than $2 million and last no more than 12
months. Removals are so named because much of the work involves
physically removing something.
Many removals are dramatic — the emergency is clear and the re-
sponse must be immediate. Removing hazardous waste requires precise
efforts under dangerous conditions.
Enforcement also plays a role in removal actions. Civil investigators
and enforcement coordinators search out parties responsible for hazard-
ous waste sites and order them to conduct or pay for cleanup. As of 1992,
one third of the removals in Region 1 were conducted by site owners or
operators, or hazardous waste generators and transporters.
When a dangerous situation is reported, an on-scene coordinator
(OSC) is sent to the site immediately and supervises any activities under-
taken. Reports of non-critical situations are forwarded to a site investiga-
tor who assesses the site to determine the need for a removal action.
Superfund enforcement staff identify potentially responsible parties to
negotiate the cleanup. If the situation is urgent, EPA conducts the re-
moval and pursues the responsible parties to recover costs.
The emergency response team is on call 24 hours a day. OSCs must be
flexible to continually shift priorities and juggle resources to meet new
situations. OSCs are part of a nationwide response network that includes
the U.S. Coast Guard, 15 other federal agencies, state environmental
agencies, and municipal authorities.
While the removal program operates nationwide, the following cases
in Region 1 illustrate the expertise required to eliminate immediate
threats and potential hazards.
Removing and disposing
of containers and waste
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Superfund At Work
Region 1 Removal Actions
Summer 1993
Robson Residence: A Time Bomb in the Basement
Silent Danger Goes
Undetected for Years
In 1991,18 years after her
husband's death, an elderly Maine
woman asked a local chemistry
teacher for advice on dismantling
the chemical laboratory her
Thousands of
chemical containers
filled the room
husband left behind. The teacher
was concerned about the thou-
sands of chemical containers,
many with missing or poorly
marked labels, stored in the
basement.
The teacher became alarmed
when Mrs. Robson showed him a
bottle of anhydrous picric
acid she had taken up-
stairs for cleaning. Aged
picric acid is shock-
sensitive and highly
explosive.
The teacher immedi-
ately reported the situa-
tion to Maine's Depart-
ment of Environmental
Protection (DEP). His alert
triggered the following
emergency actions:
• DEP investigated the
site and identified
explosive, hazardous
. and radioactive com-
pounds in the base-
ment. The possibility of
explosion and fire was
very real.
• Four days later, the
Explosive Ordnance
Disposal Team from
Brunswick Naval Air Station
eliminated the most immediate
threat by removing and safely
detonating a container of picric
acid at the Searsmont landfill.
EPA investigators later in-
spected the site, confirmed
DEP's findings, and estimated
that 2,000 containers of chemi-
cals remained in the lab.
EPA then established 24-hour
security at the site and tempo-
rarily relocated Mrs. Robson so
that the cleanup team could
remove gas cylinders and other
chemicals from the lab. Work-
ers constructed a temporary
shed in which to safely orga-
nize and store the chemicals.
Other shock-sensitive materials,
including additional containers
of picric acid, were discovered
and secured in the lab.
Workers also identified and
isolated several containers of
radioactive materials. With the
help of the local volunteer fire
department, EPA transported
533 unmarked containers to the
Searsmont landfill, stabilized
their contents, and then re-
packed the materials into 55-
gallon drums. Throughout the
operation, EPA hired compa-
nies to dispose of the stabilized
wastes.
Aided by state and local au-
thorities, EPA detonated 19
additional shock-sensitive
containers at the
Searsmont landfill.
The residential well
and septic system con-
tained no evidence of
contamination, so Mrs.
Robson was able to
return to her home. The
basement was completely
emptied and cleaned.
Within five months of
discovery, all waste had
been removed from the
basement and the chemi-
cals disposed of at ap-
proved facilities. The
cleanup was a success
because EPA worked
closely with state and
local officials who cooper-
ated to ensure speed and
efficiency throughout the
effort.
Dangers of the Abandoned Chemistry Laboratory:
vandals or even mice could have caused a major explosion.
Page 2
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 5, Library (PL-12J)
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Chicago, I 60604-3590
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Superfund At Work • Region 1 Removal Actions • Summer 1993
Danville: Burning lires Smudge the Environment
An Ominous Blaze
in Scenic New Hampshire
In the early evening hours of
September 10,1989, a fire of
suspicious origin began in an
eight-acre pile of tires off Old
Johnson Road in Danville, N.H.
A concerned citizen called the
National Response Center (NRC)
about three hours after the fire
started.
A suspicious fire
spewed smoke into
the New Hampshire sky
The NRC is staffed and oper-
ated 24-hours a day by the U.S.
Coast Guard (USCG). The NRC
receives all reports of oil, hazard-
ous substance and radiological
discharges into the environment
anywhere in the United States
and its territories. The NRC in
turn notifies the appropriate EPA
Regional office and the USCG
district office.
Within an hour, EPA dis-
patched an emergency response
team to the Danville fire.
Dangerous chemical contami-
nants are commonly emitted from
burning tires. If not controlled
quickly, a tire fire can escalate to
threaten the local inhabitants and
the surrounding land, air, and
water.
In this dump of five million
tires, at least a million were
burning, emitting intense heat
and dense choking smoke. Nearly
60 fire departments from miles
around hauled water throughout
the night to try to contain the
blaze. At least 50 people were
evacuated from their homes. By
dawn, it was clear that water
would not put out the fire.
EPA recommended smothering
the fire with soil. By 8:00 a.m. on
September llth, dozens of trucks
were hauling soil to the site. The
team worked around the clock to
bring the fire under control.
By mid-afternoon, analysts
determined that the off-site air
was free of chemical contamina-
tion, and residents were allowed
to return home. At midnight,
workers finally extinguished the
fire, but as a precaution, contin-
ued hauling, spreading, and
stockpiling soil until the following
dawn.
Superfund's emergency re-
sponse role was complete, but
EPA continued to watch the site
for several more months.
For one week, small flare-ups
occurred but were quickly smoth-
ered. Air samples collected at
various points just above the new
soil cover detected no unsafe
contaminant levels.
Unwilling to risk reigniting the
fire by digging test pits, Super-
fund staff checked the site's
temperature throughout the
ensuing months using aerial
infrared photography and tem-
perature probes. These methods
revealed a few hot spots.
In the spring of 1990, tempera-
ture probes indicated that the hot
spots had diminished. More soil
was trucked to the site as a pre-
caution. Workers dug six test pits
and found the ground cool.
Months of testing
confirmed that local wells
were free of contamination
EPA also sampled nearby
surface water and six nearby
residential wells for contamina-
tion from the melted tires. Five
monitoring wells were installed to
determine whether contaminants
were migrating from the site.
For the next five months, EPA
analyzed samples from both the
monitoring and residential wells.
No contaminants were detected
in any of these wells.
Due to the efforts of local
firefighters and the Superfund
emergency team, the fire was
effectively extinguished without
developing into a major pollution
incident.
Page 3
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Superfund At Work • Region 1 Removal Actions • Summer 1993
Wells Metal Finishing:
A Potential Cyanide Catastrophe
Removal Team
Prevents Chemical Disaster
On September 13,1990, Super-
fund emergency managers re-
ceived an urgent phone call from
the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection. Im-
properly stored and leaking
chemical containers at Wells
Metal Finishing near downtown
Lowell presented an immediate
danger.
Open, leaking, metal plating
vats contained acids and caustics
strong enough to burn or induce
respiratory failure in anyone who
touched the vats or breathed the
fumes. Highly corrosive materials
were seeping from drums into the
building, damaging other con-
tainers of cyanide salts. Four
drums were open or badly cor-
roded. Had these salts mixed with
the acids, the reaction would have
produced lethal hydrogen cya-
nide gas.
Many people lived and
worked nearby; small businesses,
a condominium complex, and
private homes surrounded the
site. In addition, the leaking
containers threatened Hales
Brook which flows under Wells
Metal Finishing and into the
Concord River.
Municipal authorities offered
their help to the EPA team. Police
secured the area; the fire depart-
ment stood by in case of fire or
medical emergency; and the Chief
Health Inspector was on the scene
to address community concerns.
Clad in protective gear, members of the cleanup team examine barrels that have been
encased to safeguard their contents. These external drums allow leaking and corroded
containers to be moved safely.
In the next 48 hours, Superfund
emergency workers:
• Sampled and analyzed plating
solutions;
• Separated incompatible materials;
• Safely packed nine cyanide
drums;
• Placed 54 leaking containers of
unknown materials into larger
drums;
• Pumped out 715 gallons of
muriatic acid from a leaking
plating vat; and
• Inventoried 162 drums, 40
plating baths, and 30 small
containers for future disposal.
Removal Team
Conducts Extensive Cleanup
The emergency team reported
to Superfund managers that,
although they had resolved
immediate concerns, the site was
still dangerous and all remaining
hazardous materials should be
removed.
EPA ordered the building
owners to conduct the removal.
The owners did not comply,
however, and so EPA took over
the action. Between February and
April 1992, EPA cleanup staff
analyzed and organized the
hazardous wastes and arranged
for their proper disposal. The
plating vats were pumped out
and their contents drummed or
shipped off site. The solids that
had accumulated in the plating
vats had to be pounded out with
power hammers, a slow and
dangerous job.
By May, all waste remaining on
site was drummed and safely
stored for final disposal, which
took place in July 1992.
Page 4
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Superfund At Work
Region 1 Removal Actions • Summer 1993
Westf ord Anodizing: Company Owners Clean Up
Chemicals Following Emergency Removal
Hazardous Chemicals
Stored in Open Vats
Westf ord Anodizing was a
metals finishing facility located in
a residential area of Westford,
Massachusetts. Leaking and
exposed hazardous wastes at the
facility presented a potential
threat to the local community.
EPA inspections revealed mul-
tiple violations of federal solid
and hazardous waste laws.
Concerned about the storage of
50 open drums containing cya-
nide, EPA's Criminal Investigation
Division enlisted the support of
the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) program,
which is responsible for regulat-
ing the safe transportation, stor-
age and disposal of chemical
wastes at active facilities.
In August 1991, EPA removal
program personnel and state
RCRA personnel inspected the
cyanide vats behind the building,
noting incompatible substances
next to each other in deteriorated
containers.
Cyanide was found
in a nearby stream
By September, EPA sampling
of a catch basin and nearby
stream indicated that cyanide had
been released from Westford
Anodizing. A repeat inventory of
the plant's contents revealed 500
containers of both raw and waste
materials containing cyanide,
acids, and other compounds
inside the building, two steel vats
outside containing cyanide
sludge, and one above-ground
tank containing cyanide crystals
located next to the building.
EPA's Enforcement Program
Proves Successful
Immediate cleanup actions
were necessary, and Westford
Anodizing agreed to perform the
work under EPA supervision.
Between November 1991 and
January 1992, the company:
• Separated acids and cyanides
into discrete areas;
• Fenced off cyanide vats and
metal hydroxide containers; and
• Loaded and transported about
150 drums of hazardous waste
to EPA-approved disposal
facilities.
Superfund OSCs monitored
this work, and supervised the
cleaning out of the catch basin,
sampling of stream sediments,
and investigation of soil around
the outdoor cyanide tank. These
removal activities were com-
pleted satisfactorily and the work
was finished in just four months.
Drums, containers and vats of chemicals presented a potential threat to
the local community.
PageS
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Superfund At Work
Region 1 Removal Actions
Summer 1993
Superfund Enforcement EPA s Region
At Work: The Removal
Program in Region 1
Region 1's removal program is successful for a
number of reasons.
A team approach is applied to each removal case.
An on-scene coordinator, an enforcement coordina-
tor, and an attorney examine all aspects of a site.
Together, they decide on the best course of action.
The removal team diligently applies the "enforce-
ment first" policy, which has been successful in
conserving Superfund dollars. Compelling respon-
sible parties to conduct cleanups allows EPA to
perform additional removals at other critical sites.
Recent bankruptcies in Region 1 have resulted in
an increased number of abandoned hazardous
waste sites. The increased workload means more
future challenges for Superfund.
With a Regional removal budget stretched to the
limit, the "enforcement first" policy is critical for
conserving Superfund resources for sites where
responsible parties cannot be identified, or are
unable to pay for the cleanup.
In those cases when the Superfund must be used,
cost recovery is pursued vigorously by the Removal
Program's enforcement coordinators and attorneys
at the Office of Regional Counsel. Region 1 has
successfully recovered the costs of many "fund-
lead" removal actions.
Atlantic Ocean
For additional copies of this or other Superfund At Work updates,
contact the National Technical Information Service,
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telephone (703) 487-4650
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